ScJia 


LIBRARY 


^ 


University  of  California. 


GIF^T   OF" 


Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH. 

Received  October,  i8g4, 
<t/lccessions  No.S^0^3  -      Class  No, 


/ 


-^ 


0    D 


THE 


PERSON   OF   CHRIST: 

THE  PERFECTION  OF  HIS  HUMANITY  VIEWED  AS 
A  PROOF  OF  HIS  DIVINITY. 


PHILIP  SCHAFF,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

PROFESSOR  IN  THE  UNION  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  NEW  YORK. 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

743  AND  745  Broadway 
1881 


syci-s 


COPYRIGHT,  18R0, 
BY  AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY. 


PREFACE. 


"  What  do  ye  think  of  the  Son  of  Man  ? "  This  is 
the  religious  question  of  the  age.  The  result  of 
the  renewed  struggle  cannot  be  doubtful:  in  all 
theological  controversies,  truth  is  the  gainer  in  the 
end.  Though  nailed  to  the  cross  and  buried  in 
the  tomb,  it  rises  again  triumphant  over  error, 
taking  captivity  captive,  and  changing  at  times 
even  a  bitter  foe,  like  Saul  of  Tarsus,  into  a  devoted 
friend.  Goethe  says :  "The  conflict  of  faith  and 
unbelief  remains  the  proper,  the  only,  the  deepest 
theme  of  the  history  of  the  world  and  mankind, 
to  which  all  others  are  subordinated."  This  very 
conflict  centres  in  the  Christological  problem. 

The  question  of  Christ  is  the  question  of  Chris- 
tianity, which  is  the  manifestation  of  his  life  in 
the  world ;  it  is  the  question  of  the  Church,  which 
rests  upon  him  as  the  immovable  rock  ;  it  is  the 
question  of  history,  which  revolves  around  him  as 


IV  PREFACE. 

the  sun  of  the  moral  universe  ;  it  is  the  question 
of  every  man  who  instinctively  yearns  after  him  as 
the  object  of  his  noblest  and  purest  aspirations  ; 
it  is  a  question  of  personal  salvation,  which  can 
only  be  obtained  in  the  blessed  name  of  Jesus. 
The  whole  fabric  of  Christianity  stands  or  falls 
with  its  divine-human  Founder;  and  if  it  can 
never  perish,  it  is  because  Christ  lives  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever. 

The  object  of  this  book  is  to  show,  in  a  popular 
style,  that  the  Person  of  Christ  is  the  great  central 
miracle  of  history,  and  the  strongest  evidence  of 
Christianity.  The  very  perfection  of  his  humanity 
is  a  proof  of  his  Divinity.  The  indwelling  of  God 
in  him  is  the  only  satisfactory  explanation  of  his 
amazing  character. 

From  his  miraculous  Person  his  miraculous 
works  follow  as  an  inevitable  consequence.  Being 
a  miracle  himself,  he  must  perform  miracles  with 
the  same  ease  with  which  ordinary  men  do  their 
ordinary  works.  "Believe  me  that  I  am  in  the 
Father,  and  the  Father  in  me ;  or  else  believe  me 
for  the  very  works'  sake  "  (John  14:  1 1  ;  comp. 
10:  38).  We  believe  in  Christ,  and  therefore  we 
believe  his  works,  and  the  Bible,  which  bear 
witness  to  him. 


PREFACE.  V 

Standing  on  this  rock,  we  may  feel  safe  against 
the  attacks  of  infidelity.  The  Person  of  Christ  is 
to  me  the  surest  as  well  as  the  most  sacred  of  all 
facts ;  as  certain  as  my  own  personal  existence ; 
yea,  even  more  so :  for  Christ  lives  in  me,  and  he 
is  the  only  valuable  part  of  my  existence.  I  am 
nothing  without  my  Saviour;  I  am  all  with  him, 
and  would  not  exchange  him  for  the  whole 
world.  To  give  up  faith  in  Christ  is  to  give  up 
faith  in  humanity ;  to  believe  in  him  is  to  believe 
in  the  redemption  and  final  glorification  of  men  ; 
and  this  faith  is  the  best  inspiration  to  a  holy  and 
useful  life  for  the  good  of  our  race  and  the  glory 
of  God. 

This  modest  little  book  has  been  before  the 
public  for  twenty  years  in  several  editions  and 
in  five  or  six  languages.  As  it  is  still  in  demand, 
the  author  has  given  it  a  final  revision,  and  brought 
it  up  to  the  present  state  of  the  christological  pro- 
blem, which  is  of  universal  and  perennial  interest, 
and  calls  for  ever-progressing  inquiry  and  solution. 

P.  S. 

New  York.  1880. 


CONTENTS. 


THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

PAOS 

INTRODUCTORY I 

THE   CHILDHOOD   AND   YOUTH   OF  JESUS          .           .           .  lO 

HIS   TRAINING         ....,.•,  l8 

HIS   PUBLIC   LIFE 24 

HIS   FREEDOM   FROM   SIN 3 1 

HIS    PERFECT    HOLINESS 42 

HIS   INTERCOURSE   WITH   MEN 47 

UNITY   OF   VIRTUE   AND   PIETY 53 

COMPLETENESS       AND        UNIVERSALITY       OF       CHRIST's 

character $6 

harmony  of  all  graces  and  virtues     ...  62 

Christ's  passion  and  crucifixion     ....  66 

SUMMARY :     Christ's     character     the     greatest 

moral  miracle  of  history        ....  76 

Christ's  own  testimony  concerning  himself         .  83 

examination  of  false  theories       ....  96 

i.  the  hypothesis  of  imposture        .        .        .  io3 
il  the  theory  of  enthusiasm  of  self-decep- 
TION   .....         ...  io4 

(l.)   CHRIST   HIMSELF  WAS   DECEIVED       .           .  Io4 

(2.)  THE   EVANGELISTS  WERE   DECEIVED            .  I08 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

PAOB 

III.    THE   THEORY   OP   POETICAL    FICTION     .  •  •      113 

(l.)   THE   MYTHICAL    HYPOTHESIS      .  ,  •       ^S 

(2.)   THE    LEGENDARY    HYPOTHJi8J8  '  ^  t       1 30 

CONCLUSION -  «      138 

CRITICAL  NOTES                .           •          .          •           •  •  •145 


APPENDIX. 

COLLECTION  OF  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES 
TO  THE  CHARACTER  OF  CHRIST. 

INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS 1 83 

PONTIUS   PILATB  AND   HT8   WIFE    .           ,           .           -           .  188 

THE   CENTURION   AT   THE   CROSS     .           .           ,           .           .  189 

JUDAS    THE   TRAITOR *            -  190 

FLAVIU8   JOSEPHUS I9I 

THE   TALMUD I94 

THE    HEATHEN    WRITERS   AGAINST    CHRISTIANITY               .  I96 

TACITUS 197 

PLINY 198 

CELSUS             •           • 199 

LUCIAN             .........  201 

PORPHYRY      .........  201 

JULIAN    THE    APOSTATE            ••*...  204 

SPINOZA 207 

THOMAS   CHUBB       ........  2o8 

DENIS   DIDEROT      ........  2o8 

JEAN    JACQUES   ROUSSEAU      .  ,  ,  .  .  .211 


viii  CONTENTS. 


PACK 


NAPOLEON    BONAPARTE            ,           ,           .           ,           .      219,  284 

F.    PECAUT 250 

QOTHK 252 

THOMAS   CARLYLE 254 

WILLIAM   ELLERY   CHANNINQ  .  .  •  .  .254 

DAVID   FRIEDRICH   STRAUSS 258 

THEODORE   PARKER          260 

FRANCES   POWER   COBBB           .           .           ,           •           .            .  264 

JOHN   STUART   MILL 269 

ERNEST    RENAN      ........  274 

THEODOR    KEIM 281 

POSTSCRIPT. — TWO     LETTERS    CONCERNING    NAPOLEOn's 

TESTIMONY       . 284 


THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

When  the  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  to  Moses  in 
the  burning  bush,  he  was  commanded  to  put  off 
his  shoes  from  his  feet ;  for  the  place  whereon  he 
stood  was  holy  ground.  With  what  reverence  and 
awe,  then,  should  we  approach  the  contemplation 
of  the  great  reality — God  manifest  in  the  flesh — 
of  which  the  vision  of  Moses  was  but  a  significant 
type  and  shadow  1  ^ 

The  life  and  character  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  holy 
of  holies  in  the  history  of  the  world.  Eighteen 
centuries  have  passed  away  since  he  appeared,  in 
the  fulness  of  time,  on  this  earth  to  redeem  a  fallen 
race  from  sin  and  death,  and  to  open  a  never-ceas- 
ing fountain  of  righteousness  and  hfe.  The  ages 
before  him  anxiously  awaited  his  coming,  as  the 
fulfilment  of  the  desire  of  all  nations;  the  ages 
after  him  proclaim  his  glory,  and  ever  extend 
his  dominion.  .  The  noblest  and  best  of  men  under 

I  A 


2  THE   PEKSON   OF   CUEIST. 

every  clime  hold  him  not  only  in  the  purest  affec- 
tion and  the  profoundest  gratitude,  but  in  divine 
adoration  and  worship.*  His  name  is  above  every 
name  that  may  be  named  in  heaven  or  on  earth, 
and  the  only  one  whereby  sinners  can  be  saved. 
He  is  the  Author  of  the  new  creation ;  the  Way, 
the  Truth,  and  the  Life ;  the  Prophet,  Priest,  and 
King  of  regenerate  humanity.  He  is  Immanuel, 
God  with  us;  the  Eternal  Word  become  flesh; 
very  God  and  very  man  in  one  undivided  person, 
the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

Thus  he  stands  out  to  the  faith  of  the  entire 
Christian  Church — Greek,  Latin,  and  Evangelical 
— in  every  civilised  country  on  the  globe.  Much 
as  the  various  confessions  and  denominations  differ 
in  doctrines  and  usages,  they  are  agreed  in  their 
love  and  adoration  of  Jesus.  They  lay  down  their 
arms  when  they  approach  the  manger  of  Bethlehem 
where  he  was  born,  or  the  cross  of  Calvary  where 
he  died  for  our  sins  that  we  might  live  for  ever  in 
heaven.  He  is  the  divine  harmony  of  all  human 
sects  and  creeds,  the  common  life-centre  of  all  true 
Christians;  where  their  hearts  meet  with  their 
affections,  prayers,  and  hopes,  in  spite  of  the  dis- 
cord of  their  heads.  The  doctrines  and  institutions, 
the  sciences  and  arts  of  Christendom,  bear  witness 
to  the  indelible  impression  he  made  upon  the  world ; 
countless  churches  and  cathedrals  are  as  many  menu- 


INTRODUCTORY.  3 

ments  of  gratitude  to  his  holy  name ;  hymns  and 
prayers  are  daily  and  hourly  ascending  to  his  praise 
from  pubKc  and  private  sanctuaries  in  all  parts  of 
the  globe.  His  power  is  now  greater,  his  kingdom 
larger,  than  ever ;  and  it  will  continue  to  spread, 
until  all  nations  shall  bow  before  him  and  kiss  his 
sceptre  of  righteousness  and  peace. 

Blessed  is  he  who  from  the  heart  can  believe 
that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God,  and  the  fountain  of 
salvation.  True  faith  is  an  act  of  God  wrought  in 
the  soul  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  reveals  Christ  to 
us  in  his  true  character,  as  Christ  has  revealed 
the  Father.  Faith,  with  its  justifying,  sanctifying, 
and  saving  power,  is  independent  of  science  and 
learning,  and  may  be  kindled  even  in  the  heart  of 
a  little  child.  It  is  the  peculiar  glory  of  the  Ee- 
deemer  and  his  religion  to  be  co-extensive  with 
humanity  itself,  without  distinction  of  sex,  age, 
nation,  and  race.  His  saving  grace  flows  and  over- 
flows to  all  and  for  all,  on  the  simple  condition  of 
faith. 

This  fact,  however,  does  not  supersede  the 
necessity  of  thought  and  argument.  Eevelation, 
although  above  nature  and  above  reason,  is  not 
against  nature  or  against  reason.  On  the  contrary, 
nature  and  the  supernatural,  as  has  been  well  said 
by  a  distinguished  Xew-England  divine,  "  constitute 
together  the  one  system  of  God."^     Christianity 


4  THE"  PERSON  OF   CHRIST. 

satisfies  the  deepest  intellectiral  as  well  as  moral 
wants  of  man,  who  is  created  in  the  image  and  for 
the  glory  of  God.  It  is  the  revelation  of  truth  as 
well  as  of  life.  Eaith  and  knowledge  are  not  an- 
tagonistic, but  complementary  forces ;  not  enemies, 
but  inseparable  twin-sisters.  Faith  precedes  know- 
ledge, but  just  as  necessarily  it  leads  to  knowledge ; 
while  true  knowledge,  on  the  other  hand,  is  always 
rooted  and  grounded  in  faith,  and  tends  to  confirm 
and  to  strengthen  it.  Thus  we  find  the  two  com- 
bined in  the  famous  confession  of  Peter,  when  he 
says,  in  the  name  of  all  the  other  apostles,  "We 
helieve  and  we  know  that  thou  art  the  Christ."' 
So  intimately  are  both  connected,  that  we  may  also 
reverse  the  famous  maxim  of  Augustine,  Anselm, 
and  Schleiermacher,  "Faith  precedes  knowledge,"^ 
and  say,  "  Knowledge  precedes  faith."  ^  For  how 
can  we  believe  in  any  object  without  at  least  some 
general  historical  knowledge  of  its  existence  and 
character  ?  Faith  even  in  its  first  form,  as  a  sub- 
mission to  the  authority  of  God  and  an  assent  to 
the  truth  of  his  revelation,  is  an  exercise  of  the 
mind  and  reason  as  well  as  of  the  heart  and  the 
will.  Hence  faith  has  been  defined  as  implying 
three  things, — knowledge,  assent,  and  trust  or 
confidence.  An  idiot  or  a  madman  cannot  believe. 
Our  religion  demands  a  rational,  intelligent  faith ; 
and    this  just   in  proportion  to  its   strength  and 


INTRODUCTORY.  5 

fervour,  aims  at  an  ever-deepening  insiglit  into  its 
own  sacred  contents  and  object. 

As  living  faith  in  Christ  is  the  soul  of  all  sound 
practical  Christianity  and  piety,  so  the  true  doctrine 
of  Christ  is  the  soul  and  centre  of  all  sound  Chris- 
tian theology.  St.  John  makes  the  denial  of  the 
incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  the  criterion  of  Anti- 
christ, and*  consequently  the  belief  in  this  truth  the 
test  of  Christianity.  The  incarnation  of  the  eternal 
Logos,  and  the  divine  glory  shining  through  the 
veil  of  Christ's  humanity,  is  the  grand  theme  of  his 
Gospel,  which  he  wrote  with  the  pen  of  an  angel 
from  the  very  heart  of  Christ,  as  his  favourite 
disciple  and  bosom-friend.  The  Apostles'  Creed, 
starting  as  it  does  from  the  confession  of  Peter, 
makes  the  article  on  Christ  most  prominent,  and 
assigns  to  it  the  central  position  between  the  preced- 
ing article  on  God  the  Father,  and  the  succeeding 
article  on  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  development  of 
ancient  Catholic  theology  commenced  and  culmi- 
nated with  the  triumphant  defence  of  the  true 
divinity,  and  true  humanity  of  Christ,  against  the 
opposite  heresies  of  Judaising  Ebionism,  which 
denied  the  former,  and  paganising  Gnosticism, 
which  resolved  the  latter  into  a  shadowy  phantom. 
Evangelical  theology  is  essentially  Christological, 
or  controlled  throughout  by  the  proper  idea  of 
Christ    as   the  God-Man    and    Saviour.     This   is 


D  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

emphatically  the  article  of  the  standing  or  failing 
Church.  In  this,  the  two  most  prominent  ideas  of 
the  Eeformation — the  doctrine  of  the  supremacy  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
grace  through  faith — meet,  and  are  vitally  united. 
Christ's  word,  the  only  unerring  and  efficient  guide 
of  truth;  Christ's  work,  the  only  unfailing  and 
sufficient  source  of  peace ;  Christ  all  in  all, — this 
is  the  principle  of  genuine  Protestantism. 

In  the  construction  of  the  true  doctrine  of 
Christ's  person,  we  may,  with  St.  John  in  the  pro- 
logue to  his  Gospel,  begin  from  above  with  his 
eternal  Godhead,  and  proceed,  through  the  creation 
and  the  preparatory  revelation  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment economy,  till  we  reach  the  incarnation  and 
his  truly  human  life  for  the  redemption  of  the 
race.  Or,  with  the  other  Evangelists,  we  may 
begin  from  below  with  his  birth  from  the  Virgin 
Mary,  and  rise,  through  the  successive  stages  of 
his  earthly  life,  his  discourses  and  miracles,  to  his 
assumption  into  that  divine  glory  which  he  had 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world.  The  result 
reached  in  both  cases  is  the  same ;  namely,  that 
Christ  unites  in  his  person  the  whole  fulness  of 
the  Godhead,  and  the  whole  fulness  of  sinless 
manhood. 

The  older  theologians,  both  Catholic  and  Evan- 
gelical, proved  the  divinity  of  the  Saviour  in  a 


INTEODUCTORY.  7 

direct  way  from  the  miracles  performed  by  him ; 
from  the  p7Vj)hecies  and  types  fulfilled  in  him;  from 
the  divine  names  which  he  bears ;  from  the  divine 
attributes  which  are  predicated  of  him ;  from  the 
divine  works  which  he  performed ;  and  from  the 
divine  honours  which  he  claims,  and  which  are  fully 
accorded  to  him  by  his  apostles  and  the  whole 
Christian  Church  to  this  day. 

But  the  divinity  of  Christ  may  also  be  proved 
by  the  opposite  process, — the  contemplation  of  the 
singular  perfection  of  his  humanity ;  which  rises 
by  almost  universal  consent,  even  of  unbelievers, 
so  far  above  every  human  greatness  known  before 
or  since,  that  it  can  only  be  rationally  explained 
on  the  ground  of  such  an  essential  union  with  the 
Godhead  as  he  claimed  himself,  and  as  his  inspired 
apostles  ascribed  to  him.  The  more  deeply  we 
penetrate  the  veil  of  his  flesh,  the  more  clearly  we 
behold  the  glory  of  the  Only -Begotten  of  the 
rather  shining,  through  the  same,  full  of  grace 
and  of  truth.^ 

Modern  theology  owes  this  new  homage  to  the 
Saviour.  The  powerful  and  subtle  attacks  of  the 
latest  phases  of  infidelity  upon  the  credibility  of 
the  gospel  history  call  for  a  more  vigorous  defence 
than  was  ever  made  before,  and  have  already  led, 
by  way  of  reaction,  to  new  triumphs  of  the  old 
faith  of  the  Church  in  her  divine  Head. 


8  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

Our  humanitarian,  philanthropic,  and  yet  scep- 
tical age  is  more  open  to  this  argument,  which 
proceeds  from  the  humanity  to  the  divinity,  than  to 
the  old  dogmatic  method  of  demonstration  which 
follows  the  opposite  process.  With  Thomas,  the 
representative  of  honest  and  earnest  scepticism 
among  the  apostles,  many  noble  and  inquiring 
minds  refuse  to  believe  in  the  divinity  of  the  Lord 
unless  supported  by  convincing  arguments  of  rea- 
son :  they  desire  to  put  the  finger  into  the  print 
of  his  nails,  and  to  thrust  the  hand  into  his  side, 
before  they  exclaim,  in  humble  adoration  :  "  My 
Lord  and  my  God ! "  They  cannot  easily  be 
brought  to  believe  in  miracles  on  abstract  reason- 
ing or  on  historical  evidence.  But,  if  they  once 
could  see  the  great  moral  miracle  of  Christ's  per- 
son and  character,  they  would  have  no  difficulty 
with  his  miraculous  works.  For  a  superhuman 
being  must  of  necessity  do  superhuman  deeds. 
The  contrary  would  be  unnatural,  and  the  greatest 
miracle.  The  character  of  the  tree  accounts  for 
the  character  of  the  fruit.  We  believe  in  the 
miracles  of  Christ  because  we  believe  in  his  per- 
son as  the  divine  Man  and  the  central  miracle 
of  the  moral  universe. 

It  is  from  this  point  of  view  that  we  shall  en- 
deavour to  analyse  and  exhibit  the  human  char- 
acter of  Christ.     We  propose  to  take  up  the  man, 


INTRODUCTORY.  9 

Jesus  of  Nazareth,  as  he  appears  on  the  simple, 
unsophisticated  record  of  the  honest  fishermen  of 
Galilee,  and  as  he  lives  in  the  faith  of  Christen- 
dom ;  and  we  shall  find  him  in  all  the  stages  of 
his  life,  both  as  a  private  individual  and  as  a  pub- 
lic character,  so  far  elevated  above  the  reach  of 
successful  rivalry,  and  so  singularly  perfect,  that 
this  very  perfection,  in  the  midst  of  an  imperfect 
and  sinful  world,  constitutes  an  irresistible  proof 
of  his  divinity. 

A  full  discussion  of  the  subject  would  require 
us  to  consider  Christ  in  his  official  as  well  as  per- 
sonal character ;  and  to  describe  him  as  a  teacher, 
a  reformer,  a  worker  of  miracles,  and  the  founder 
of  a  spiritual  kingdom  universal  in  extent  and 
perpetual  in  time.  From  every  point  of  view,  we 
should  be  irresistibly  driven  to  the  same  result. 
But  our  present  purpose  confines  us  to  the  consider- 
ation of  his  personal  character ;  and  this  alone,  we 
think,  is  sufficient  for  the  conclusion. 

Infidels,  it  is  true,  are  seldom  converted  by 
argument ;  for  the  springs  of  unbelief  are  in  the 
heart  and  will  rather  than  in  the  head.  But  honest 
and  truth-loving  inquirers,  like  ISTathanael  and 
Thomas,  will  never  refuse,  on  proper  evidence,  to 
receive  the  truth. 

Blessed  are  they  that  seek  the  truth ;  for  they 
shall  find  it. 


(      10     ) 


THE  CHILDHOOD  AND   YOUTH 
OF  JESUS. 

Jesus  passed  through  all  the  stages  of  human  life 
from  infancy  to  manhood,  and  represented  each  in 
its  ideal  form,  that  he  might  redeem  and  sanctify 
them  all,  and  be  a  perpetual  model  for  imitation. 
He  "was  the  model  infant,  the  model  hoy,  the 
model  youth,  and  the  model  man/  But  the  weak- 
ness, decline,  and  decrepitude  of  old  age  would  be 
incompatible  with  his  character  and  mission  as  the 
Eegenerator  of  the  race  and  Prince  of  life.  He 
died  and  rose  in  the  full  bloom  of  early  manhood, 
and  lives  in  the  hearts  of  his  people  in  unfading 
freshness  and  unbroken  vigour  for  ever. 
•  Let  us  first  glance  at  the  infancy  and  childhood 
of  Jesus.  The  history  of  the  race  commences  with 
the  beauty  of  innocent  youth  in  the  garden  of 
Eden,  "  when  the  morning  stars  sang  together,  and 
all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy,"  in  beholding 
Adam  and  Eve  created  in  the  image  of  their 
Maker, — the  crowning  glory  of  all  his  wonderful 
works.  So  the  second  Adam,  the  Eedeemer  of  the 
fallen  race,  the  Kestorer  and   Perfecter  of  man. 


HIS   CHILDHOOD   AND   YOUTH.  II 

comes  first  before  us  in  the  accounts  of  the  Gospels 
as  a  child,  born,  not  in  Paradise,  it  is  true,  but 
among  the  dreary  ruins  of  sin  and  death ;  from  an 
humble  virgin,  in  a  lowly  manger,  yet  pure  and 
innocent, — the  subject  of  the  praise  of  angels,  and 
the  adoration  of  men.  Even  the  announcement 
and  expectation  of  his  birtii  transforms  his  virgin 
mother,  the  bride  of  the  humble  carpenter,  into  an 
inspired  prophetess  and  poetess;  rejuvenates  the 
aged  parents  of  the  Baptist  in  hopeful  anticipation 
of  the  approaching  salvation ;  and  makes  the  un- 
born babe  leap  in  Elizabeth's  womb, — the  babe 
who  was  to  prepare  the  way  for  his  coming.  The 
immortal  psalms  of  Elizabeth,  Mary,  and  Zacharias 
combine  the  irresistible  charms  of  poetry  with 
truth,  and  are  a  worthy  preparation  for  the  actual 
appearance  of  the  Christ-child,  at  the  very  thres- 
hold of  the  gospel  salvation,  when  the  highest  poetry 
was  to  become  reality,  and  reality  to  surpass  the 
sublimest  ideal  of  poetry.®  And,  when  the  heavenly 
child  was  born,  heaven  and  earth,  the  shepherds  of 
Bethlehem  in  the  name  of  Israel  longing  after  sal- 
vation, and  the  wise  men  from  the  East  as  the 
representatives  of  heathenism  in  its  dark  groping 
after  the  "  unknown  God,'*  unite  in  the  worship  of 
the  infant  King  and  Saviour. 

Here  we  meet,  at  the  very  beginning   of  the 
earthly  history  of  Christ,  that  singular  combination 


12  THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

of  humility  and  grandeur,  of  simplicity  and  sub- 
limity, of  tlie  human  and  divine,  which  characterises 
it  throughout,  and  distinguishes  it  from  every  other 
history.  He  appears  in  the  world  first  as  a  child, 
as  a  poor  child,  in  one  of  the  smallest  towns  of  a 
remote  country,^  in  one  of  the  lowliest  spots  of 
that  town,  in  a  stable,  in  a  manger,  a  helpless 
fugitive  from  the  wrath  of  a  cruel  tyrant, — thus 
presenting,  at  first  sight,  every  stumbling-block  to 
our  faith.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  appearance 
of  the  angel,  the  inspired  hymns  of  Zacharias  and 
Mary,  the  holy  exultation  of  Elizabeth,  Anna, 
and  Simeon,  the  prophecies  of  Scripture,  the  theo- 
logical lore  of  the  scribes  at  Jerusalem,  even  the 
dark  political  suspicion  of  Herod,  the  star  of  Beth- 
lehem, the  journey  of  the  Magi  from  the  distant 
East,  the  dim  light  of  astrology,  the  significant 
night- vision  of  Joseph,  and  God's  providence  over- 
ruling every  event,  —  form  a  glorious  array  of 
evidences  for  the  divine  origin  of  the  Christ-child. 
Heaven  and  earth  seem  to  move  around  him  as 
their  centre.  What  a  contrast !  A  child  in  the 
manger,  yet  bearing  the  salvation  of  the  world ;  a 
child  hated  and  feared,  yet  longed  for  and  loved ;  a 
child  poor  and  despised,  yet  honoured  and  adored, 
— beset  by  danger,  yet  marvellously  preserved ;  a 
child  setting  the  stars  in  heaven,  the  city  of  Jeru- 
salem, the  shepherds  of  Judoea,  and  the  sages  of 


HIS  CHILDHOOD   AND   YOUTH.  1 3 

the  East,  in  motion, — attracting  the  best  elements 
of  the  world,  and  repelling  all  that  is  dark  and 
evil!  This  conception  is  too  deep,  too  sublime, 
too  significant,  to  be  the  invention  of  illiterate 
fishermen.^^ 

Yet,  with  all  these  marks  of  divinity  upon  him, 
the  infant  Saviour  is  not  represented,  either  by 
Matthew  or  Luke,  as  an  unnatural  prodigy,  antici- 
pating the  maturity  of  a  later  age,  but  as  a  truly 
human  child,  silently  lying  and  smiling  on  the 
bosom  of  his  virgin  mother;  "growing''  and 
"  waxing  strong  in  spirit,''  ^^  and  therefore  subject 
to  the  law  of  regular  development,  though  differing 
from  all  other  children  by  his  supernatural  concep- 
tion and  perfect  freedom  from  hereditary  sin  and 
guilt.  He  appears  in  the  celestial  beauty  of 
unspotted  innocence,  a  veritable  flower  of  paradise. 
He  was  "  that  Holy  Thing,"  according  to  the 
announcement  of  the  angel  Gabriel  (Luke  i  :  35), 
admired  and  loved  by  all  who  approached  him  in 
a  child-like  spirit,  but  exciting  the  dark  suspicion 
of  the  tyrant  king  who  represented  his  future 
enemies  and  persecutors. 

Who  can  measure  the  ennobling,  purifying,  and 
cheering  influence  which  proceeds  from  the  con- 
templation of  the  Christ-child,  at  each  returning 
Christmas  season,  upon  the  hearts  of  young  and 
old  in  every  land  and  nation !     The  loss  of  the 


14  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

first  estate  is  richly  compensated  by  the  undying 
innocence  of  paradise  regained. 

Of  the  BOYHOOD  of  Jesus  we  know  only  one  fact, 
recorded  by  Luke;  but  it  is  in  perfect  keeping 
with  the  peculiar  charm  of  his  childhood,  and 
foreshadows  at  the  same  time  the  glory  of  his 
public  life  as  one  uninterrupted  service  of  •  his 
heavenly  Father.^^  When  twelve  years  old,  we 
find  him  in  the  Temple,  in  the  midst  of  the  Jewish 
doctors ;  not  teaching  and  offending  them  by  any 
immodesty  or  forwardness,  but  hearing  and  asking 
questions :  thus  actually  learning  from  them,  and 
yet  filling  them  with  astonishment  at  his  under- 
standing and  answers.  There  is  nothing  premature, 
forced,  or  unbecoming  his  age,  and  yet  a  degree  of 
wisdom  and  an  intensity  of  interest  in  religion 
which  rises  far  above  a  purely  human  youth. 
"He  increased,"  we  are  told,  "in  wisdom  and 
stature,  and  in  favour  with  God  and  man  "  (Luke 
2  :  52).  He  was  subject  to  his  parents,  and  prac- 
tised all  the  virtues  of  an  obedient  son ;  and  yet 
he  filled  them  with  a  sacred  awe  as  they  saw  him 
absorbed  in  "  the  things  of  his  Father,"  ^^  and  heard 
him  utter  words  which  they  were  unable  to  under- 
stand at  the  time,  but  which  Mary  treasured  up 
in  her  heart  as  a  holy  secret,  convinced  thar 
they  must  have  some  deep  meaning  answering  to 


HIS   CHILDHOOD   AND   YOUTH.  1 5 

the   mystery  of  his  supernatural  conception  and 
birth. 

Such  an  idea  of  a  harmless  and  faultless  heavenly 
childhood,  of  a  growing,  inquiring,  and  yet  surpris- 
ingly wise  boyhood,  as  it  meets  us  in  living  reality 
at  the  portal  of  the  gospel  history,  never  entered 
the  imagination  of  biographer,  poet,  or  philoso- 
pher before.  On  the  contrary,  as  has  been  justly 
observed,^^  "  in  all  the  higher  ranges  of  character, 
the  excellence  portrayed  is  never  the  simple  unfold- 
ing of  a  harmonious  and  perfect  beauty  contained 
in  the  germ  of  childhood,  but  is  a  character 
formed  by  a  process  of  rectification  in  which  many 
follies  are  mended  and  distempers  removed;  in 
which  confidence  is  checked  by  defeat,  passion 
moderated  by  reason,  smartness  sobered-  by  experi- 
ence. Commonly  a  certain  pleasure  is  taken  in 
showing  how  the  many  wayward  sallies  of  the  boy 
are,  at  length,  reduced  by  discipline  to  the  character 
of  wisdom,  justice,  and  public  heroism  so  much 
admired.  Besides,  if  any  writer,  of  almost  any 
age,  will  undertake  to  describe,  not  merely  a  spot- 
less but  a  superhuman  or  celestial  childhood,  not 
having  the  reality  before  him,  he  must  be  somewhat 
more  than  human  himself  if  he  does  not  pile 
together  a  mass  of  clumsy  exaggerations,  and  draw 
and  overdraw,  till  neither  heaven  nor  earth  can 
find  any  verisimilitude  in  the  picture." 


l6  THE  PERSON   OF  CHRIST. 

This  unnatural  exaggeration,  into  which  the 
mythical  fancy  of  man,  in  its  endeavour  to  pro- 
duce a  superhuman  childhood  and  boyhood,  will 
inevitably  fall,  is  strikingly  exhibited  in  the  myth 
of  Hercules,  who,  while  yet  a  suckling  in  the  cradle, 
squeezed  two  monster  serpents  to  death  with  his 
tender  hands;  and  still  more  in  the  accounts  of 
the  apocryphal  Gospels  on  the  prodigious  perform- 
ances of  the  infant  Saviour.  These  apocryphal 
Gospels  are  related  to  the  canonical  Gospels  as  a 
counterfeit  to  the  genuine  coin,  or  as  a  caricature 
to  the  inimitable  original ;  but,  by  the  very  con- 
trast, they  tend,  negatively,  to  corroborate  the  truth 
of  the  evangelical  history.  The  strange  contrast 
has  been  frequently  urged,  especially  in  the  Strauss- 
controversy,  and  used  as  an  argument  against  the 
mythical  theory.  While  the  Evangelists  expressly 
reserve  the  performance  of  miracles  to  the  age  of 
maturity  and  public  life,  and  observe  a  significant 
silence  concerning  the  parents  of  Jesus,  the  pseudo- 
evangelists  fill  the  infancy  and  early  years  of  the 
Saviour  and  his  mother  with  the  strangest  pro- 
digies, and  make  the  active  intercession  of  Mary 
very  prominent  throughout.  According  to  their 
representation,  even  dumb  idols,  irrational  beasts, 
and  senseless  trees  bow  in  adoration  before  the 
infant  Jesus  on  his  journey  to  Egypt;  and  after 
his  return,  when  yet  a  boy  of  five  or  seven  years, 


HIS   CHILDHOOD   AND   YOUTH.  1/ 

he  changes  balls  of  clay  into  flying  birds  for  the  idle 
amusement  of  his  playmates,  strikes  terror  round 
about  him,  dries  up  a  stream  of  water  by  a  mere 
word,  transforms  his  companions  into  goats,  raises 
the  dead  to  life,  and  performs  all  sorts  of  miracu- 
lous cures  through  a  magical  influence  which  pro- 
ceeds from  the  very  water  in  which  he  was  washed, 
the  towels  which  he  used,  and  the  bed  on  which 
he  slept.^^ 

Here  we  have  the  falsehood  and  absurdity  of 
unnatural  fiction ;  while  the  ISTew  Testament  pre- 
sents to  us  the  truth  and  beauty  of  a  super- 
natural yet  most  real  history,  which  shines  out 
only  in  brighter  colours  by  the  contrast  of  the 
mythical  shadow. 


(    i8     ) 


HIS  TRAINING. 

With  the  exception  of  these  few  significant  hints, 
the  youth  of  Jesus,  and  the  preparation  for  his 
public  ministry,  are  enshrined  in  mysterious  silence. 
But  we  know  the  outward  condition  and  circum- 
stances under  which  he  grew  up ;  and  these  furnish 
no  explanation  for  the  astounding  results,  without 
the  admission  of  the  supernatural  and  divine  ele- 
ment in  his  life. 

Jesus  lived  among  a  people  which  is  seldom  and 
only  contemptuously  named  by  the  ancient  clas- 
sics, and  was  subjected  at  the  time  to  the  yol^e  of 
a  foreign  oppressor.  He  grew  up  in  a  remote  and 
conquered  province  of  the  Eoman  Empire ;  in  the 
darkest  district  of  Palestine ;  in  a  country  town  of 
proverbial  insignificance.^^  He  spent  his  youth  in 
poverty  and  manual  labour,  in  the  obscurity  of  a 
carpenter's  shop;  far  away  from  universities, 
academies,  libraries,  and  literary  or  polished  society. 
He  had  no  opportunities,  except  the  parental  care, 
the  daily  wonders  of  nature,  the  Old-Testament 
Scriptures,  the   weekly    Sabbath   services   of   the 


HIS   TRAINING.  1 9 

83ma.gogue  (Luke  4 :  16),  the  annual  festivals  in 
Jerusalem'(Luke  2  :  42),  and  the  secret  intercourse 
of  his  soul  with  God.  These  are  indeed  the  great 
educators  of  the  mind  and  heart.  The  book  of 
!N"ature  and  the  book  of  Eevelation  are  filled  with 
richer  and  more  important  lessons  than  all  the 
works  of  human  art  and  learning ;  but  they  were 
accessible  alike  to  every  Jew,  and  gave  no  advan- 
tage to  Jesus  over  his  humblest  neighbour. 

Hence  the  question  of  Nathanael :  "  What  good 
can  come  out  of  JSi  azareth  ? "  Hence  the  natural 
surprise  of  the  Jews,  who  knew  all  his  human  re- 
lations and  antecedents.  "  How  knoweth  this  man 
letters,"  they  asked  when  they  heard  Jesus  teach, 
"  having  never  learned  ? "  (John  7  :  15.)  And  on 
another  occasion,  when  he  taught  in  the  synagogue : 
"Whence  has  this  man  this  wisdom  and  these 
mighty  works?  Is  not  this  the  carpenter's  son? 
Is  not  His  mother  Mary  ?  And  his  brethren,  James 
and  Joses  and  Simon  and  Judas  ?  And  his  sisters 
— are  they  not  all  with  us  ?  Whence,  then,  hath 
this  man  all  these  things?""  These  questions 
are  unavoidable  and  unanswerable,  if  Christ  be 
regarded  as  a  mere  man;  for  each  effect  presup- 
poses a  corresponding  cause. 

The  difficulty  here  presented  can  by  no  means 
be  solved  by  a  reference  to  the  fact  that  many, 
perhaps  the  majority  of  great  men  have  risen,  by 


20  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

their  own  industry  and  perseverance,  from  the  lower 
walks  of  life,  and  from  a  severe  contest  with 
poverty  and  obstacles  of  every  kind.  The  fact  it- 
self is  readily  conceded ;  but,  in  every  one  of  these 
cases,  schools  and  books,  or  patrons  and  friends, 
or  peculiar  events  and  influences,  can  be  pointed 
out  as  auxiliary  aids  in  the  development  of  intel- 
lectual or  moral  greatness.  There  is  always  some 
human  and  natural  cause,  or  combination  of  causes, 
which  accounts  for  the  final  result. 

Luther,  for  instance,  was  indeed  the  son  of  poor 
peasants,  and  had  a  very  hard  youth :  but  he  went 
to  the  schools  of  Mansfeld,  Magdeburg,  and  Eise- 
nach ;  to  the  university  of  Erfurt ;  passed  through 
the  ascetic  discipline  of  convent  life ;  studied  and 
laboured  among  professors,  students,  and  libraries ; 
and  was  innocently,  as  it  were,  made  a  reformer 
by  extraordinary  events,  and  the  irresistible  cur- 
rent of  his  age. 

Shakspeare  is  generally  and  justly  regarded  as 
the  most  remarkable  and  most  wonderful  example 
of  a  self-taught  man;  who,  without  the  regular 
routine  of  school  education,  became  the  greatest 
dramatic  poet,  not  only  of  his  age  and  country,  but 
of  all  times.  But  the  absurd  idea  that  the  son  of 
the  Warwickshire  yeoman  or  butcher  or  glover — 
we  hardly  know  which — was  essentially  an  un- 
learned man,  and  jumped  with  one  bound  from 


HIS   TRAINING.  21 

the  youthful  folly  of  deer-stealing  to  the  highest 
position  in  literature,  has  long  since  been  aban- 
doned by  competent  judges.  It  is  certain  that  he 
spent  several  years  in  the  free  grammar-school  of 
Stratford-on-Avon,  where  he  probably  acquired  the 
"small  Latin,  and  less  Greek,"  which,  however 
small  in  the  eyes  of  so  profound  a  classical  scholar 
as  Ben  Jonson,  was  certainly  large  enough  to  un- 
fold to  him  a  general  understanding  of  Greek  and 
Eoman  antiquity.  And,  whatever  were  the  de- 
fects of  his  scholastic  training,  he  must  have  made 
them  up,  by  intense  private  study  of  books,  and 
the  closest  observation  of  men  and  things :  for  his 
dramas — the  occasional  chronological,  historical, 
and  geographical  mistakes  notwithstanding,  which 
are  small  matters  at  all  events,  and  in  most  cases, 
as  in  "Pericles"  and  in  "Midsummer -Night's 
Dream,"  either  intentional,  or  mere  freaks  of  fancy 
— abound  in  the  most  accurate  and  comprehensive 
knowledge  of  human  nature  under  all  its  types 
and  conditions, — in  the  cold  North  and  the  sunny 
South;  in  the  fifteenth  century,  and  at  the  time 
of  Caesar,  under  the  influence  of  Christianity  and 
of  Judaism, — together  with  a  great  variety  of 
historical  and  other  information,  which  cannot  be 
acquired  without  study,  and  the  help  of  oral  or 
printed  instruction.  Moreover,  he  lived  in  the 
city  of  London ;  united  the  ofiices  of  actor,  manager, 


22  THE  PEESON   OF   CHRIST. 

and  writer,  in  the  classic  age  of  Elizabeth,  in  the 
company  of  genial  and  gifted  friends,  with  free 
access  to  the  highest  ranks  of  blood,  wealth,  and 
wit,  and  during  the  closing  scenes  of  the  greatest 
upheaving  of  the  human  mind  which  ever  took 
place  since  the  introduction  of  Christianity/® 

In  the  case  of  Christ,  no  such  natural  explana- 
tion can  be  given.  He  can  be  ranked  neither 
with  school-trained,  nor  with  self-trained  or  self- 
made  men ;  if  by  the  latter  we  tmderstand,  as  we 
must,  those  who,  without  the  regular  aid  of  living 
teachers,  yet  with  the  same  educational  means,  such 
as  books,  the  observation  of  men  and  things,  and 
the  intense  application  of  their  mental  faculties, 
attained  to  vigour  of  intellect,  and  wealth  of  scholar- 
ship,— like  Shakspeare,  Jacob  Boehm,  Benjamin 
Franklin,  and  others.  The  attempts  to  bring  him 
into  contact  with  Egyptian  wisdom,  or  the  Essenic 
theosophy,  or  other  sources  of  learning,  are  without . 
a  shadow  of  proof,  and  explain  nothing  after  all. 
He  never  quotes  from  books,  except  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. He  never  refers  to  secular  history,  poetry, 
rhetoric,  mathematics,  astronomy,  foreign  languages, 
natural  sciences,  discoveries  and  inventions,  or  any 
of  those  branches  of  knowledge  which  make  up 
human  learning  and  literature.  He  confined  him- 
self strictly  to  religion.  But,  from  that  centre,  he 
sheds  light  over  the  whole  world  of  man  and  nature, 


HIS   TRAINING.  23 

and  acts  as  a  universal  inspirer  of  higher  and  purer 
thought.  In  this  department,  unlike  all  other 
great  xneUj  even  the  prophets  and  the  apostles,  he 
is  absolutely  original  and  independent.  He  teaches 
the  world  as  one  who  had  learned  nothing  from  it, 
and  is  under  no  obligation  to  it.  He  speaks  from 
divine  intuition,  as  one  who  not  only  knotvs  the 
truth,  but  is  the  truth ;  and  with  an  authority  that 
commands  absolute  submission,  or  provokes  rebel- 
lion, but  can  never  be  passed  by  with  contei^pt  or 
indifference.  "  His  character  and  life  were  origin- 
ated and  sustained  in  spite  of  circumstances  with 
which  no  earthly  force  could  have  contended,  and 
therefore  must  have  had  their  real  foundation  in  a 
force  which  was  preternatural  and  divine."  ^^ 

At  the  same  time,  it  is  easy  to  see,  from  the 
admission  of  Christ's  divinity,  that  by  this  conde- 
scension he  raised  humble  origin,  poverty,  manual 
labour,  and  the  lower  orders  of  society,  to  a  dignity 
and  sacredness  never  known  before.  He  set  up 
the  true  standard  of  judging  men  and  things  not 
from  their  outward  appearance,  but  from  their 
intrinsic  merits. 


(     24     ) 


HIS  PUBLIC  LIFE. 

THE  SHORT  DURATION  AND  MIGHTY  EFFECT  OF   HIS 

MINISTRY,      ABSENCE   OF  ALL    OSTENTATION 

AND    IVORLDLY  GREATNESS, 

We  now  approach  tlie  public  life  of  Jesus.  In  liis 
thirtieth  year,  after  the  Messianic  inauguration 
through  the  baptism'  by  John  as  his  forerunner, 
and  as  the  representative  of  the  Old  Covenant, 
both  in  its  legal  and  prophetic  or  evangelical  as- 
pects, and  after  the  Messianic  probation  by  the 
temptation  in  the  wilderness, — the  counterpart  of 
the  temptation  of  the  first  Adam  in  paradise, — he 
entered  upon  his  great  work. 

His  public  life  lasted  only  three  years  ;  and, 
before  he  had  reached  the  age  of  ordinary  maturity 
he  died,  in  the  full  beauty  and  vigour  of  early  man- 
hood, without  tasting  the  infirmities  of  declining 
years.  He  retained  the  dew  of  his  youth  upon 
him :  he  never  became  an  old  man.  Both  his  per- 
son and  his  work,  every  word  he  spoke,  and  every 
act  he  performed,  has  the  freshness,  brilliance,  and 
vigour  of  \outh,  and  will  retain  it  to  the  end  of 


HIS  PUBLIC   LIFE.  2$ 

time.  All  other  things  fade  away ;  every  book  of 
man  loses  its  interest  after  repeated  reading :  but 
the  gospel  of  Jesus  never  wearies ;  it  becomes 
more  interesting  the  more  it  is  read,  and  grows 
deeper  at  every  attempt  to  fathom  its  depth. 
Even  ^N'apoleon  is  reported  to  have  said  on  St. 
Helena,  pointing  to  a  copy  of  the  Testament  on 
his  table:  "I  never  tire  with  reading  it,  and  I 
read  it  daily  with  equal  delight.  The  gospel  is 
not  a  book,  but  a  living  power  which  overwhelms 
every  opposing  force.  The  soul  which  is  capti- 
vated by  the  beauty  of  the  gospel  does  no  more 
belong  to  itself  or  to  the  world,  but  to  God. 
What  an  evidence  is  this  of  the  divinity  of  Christ!" 
The  great  Orientalist,  Henry  Ewald,  holding  a 
Greek  Testament  in  his  hand,  said  to  a  friend: 
"  In  this  little  book  is  contained  the  whole  wisdom 
of  the  world." 

And  yet,  unlike  all  other  men  of  his  years, 
Christ  combined,  with  the  freshness,  energy,  and 
originating  power  of  youth,  that  wisdom,  modera- 
tion, and  experience,  which  belong  only  to  mature 
age.  The  short  triennium  of  his  public  ministry 
contains  more,  even  from  a  purely  historical  point 
of  observation,  than  the  longest  life  of  the  greatest 
and  best  of  men.  It  is  pregnant  with  the  deepest 
meaning  of  the  counsel  of  God  and  the  destiny 
of  the  race.  It  is  the  ripe  fruit  of  all  preceding 
4 


26  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

ages,  the  fulfilment  of  the  hopes  and  desires  of  the 
Jewish  and  heathen  mind,  and  the  fruitful  germ  of 
succeeding  generations.  It  contains  the  impulse 
to  the  purest  thoughts  and  noblest  actions  down 
to  the  end  of  time.  It  is  "  the  end  of  a  boundless 
past,  the  centre  of  a  boundless  present,  and  the 
beginning  of  a  boundless  future."  ^^ 

How  remarkable,  how  wonderful,  this  contrast 
between  the  short  duration  and  the  immeasurable 
significance  of  Christ's  ministry  !  The  Saviour  of 
the  world  a  youth ! 

Other  men  require  a  long  succession  of  years  to 
mature  their  mind  and  character,  and  to  make  a 
lasting  impression  upon  the  world.  There  are  ex- 
ceptions, we  admit.  Alexander  the  Great,  the  last 
and  most  brilliant  efflorescence  of  the  ancient  Greek 
nationality,  died  a  young  man  of  thirty-three,  after 
having  conquered  the  East  to  the  borders  of  the 
Indus.  But  who  would  think  of  comparing  an 
ambitious  warrior,  conquered  by  his  own  lust,  and 
dying  a  victim  of  his  passion,  with  the  spotless 
Friend  of  sinners  ?  a  few  bloody  victories  of  the  one 
with  the  peaceful  triumphs  of  the  other ;  and  a  huge 
military  empire  of  force,  which  crumbled  to  pieces  as 
soon  as  it  was  erected,  with  the  spiritual  kingdom 
of  truth  and  love  which  stands  to  this  day,  and 
will  last  for  ever?  Nor  should  it  be  forgotten, 
that  the  true  significance  and  only  value  of  Alex- 


HIS   PUBLIC   LIFE.  ^  2/ 

ander's  conquest  lay  beyond  the  horizon  of  his 
ambition  and  intention ;  and  that  by  carrying  the 
language  and  civilisation  of  Greece  to  Asia,  and 
bringing  together  the  Oriental  and  Occidental  world 
it  prepared  the  way  for  the  introduction  of  the 
universal  religion  of  Christ,  who  occupies  the  cen- 
tral position  in  history,  all  the  preceding  ages 
looking^  towards  him  as  the  fulfilment  of  their 
hopes  and  aspirations,  all  succeeding  ages  starting 
from  him  to  carry  out  the  design  of  his  coming. 
ISTapoleon,  in  his  conversations  with  Gen.  Bertrand 
at  St.  Helena,  made  the  striking  remark  :  "  The 
world  admires  the  conquest  of  Alexander ;  but 
Christ  is  a  conqueror  who  attracts,  unites  to  him- 
self, and  incorporates  with  him,  for  its  own  bene- 
fit, not  a  nation, — no,  but  the  whole  human  race. 
What  a  miracle  !  "  The  human  soul,  with  all  its 
faculties,  becomes  an  annex  to  the  existence  of 
Christ." 

There  is  another  striking  distinction  of  a  general 
character,  between  Christ  and  the  heroes  of  history 
which  we  must  notice  here.  We  should  naturally 
suppose  that  such  an  uncommon  personage,  setting 
up  the  most  astounding  claims  and  proposing  the 
most  extraordinary  work,  would  surround  himself 
with  extraordinary  circumstances,  and  maintain  a 
position  far  above  the  vulgar  and  degraded  multi- 
tude around  hina.     We  should  expect  something 


28  ,  THE  PERSON  OF  CimiST. 

uncommon  and  striking  in  his  look,  his  dress,  his 
manner,  his  mode  of  speech,  his  outward  life,  and 
the  train  of  his  attendants. 

But  the  very  reverse  is  the  case.  His  greatness 
is  singularly  unostentatious,  modest,  and  quiet; 
and,  far  from  repelling  the  beholder,  it  attracts 
and  invites  him  to  familiar  approach.  His  public 
life  never  moved  on  the  imposing  arena  of  secular 
heroism,  but  within  the  humble  circle  of  everyday 
life,  and  the  simple  relations  of  a  son,  a  brother, 
a  citizen,  a  teacher,  and  a  friend.  We  have  no 
authentic  description  of  his  "human  face  divine;*' 
he  had  not  the  physiognomy  of  a  sinner,  and  "  the 
glory  of  the  only  Begotten  of  the  Father  full  of 
grace  and  truth "  must  have  shone  through  the 
veil  of  his  flesh,  but  it  was  perceptible  only  to  a 
deeper  penetration,  and  his  outward  dress  and 
appearance,  if  we  are  to  judge  from  the  absence  of 
all  observations  on  the  subject,  had  nothing  start- 
ling or  uncommon.  He  had  no  army  to  command, 
no  kingdom  to  rule,  no  prominent  station  to  fill,  no 
worldly  favours  and  rewards  to  dispense.  He  was 
an  humble  individual,  without  friends  and  patrons 
in  the  Sanhedrin  or  at  the  court  of  Herod.  He 
never  mingled  in  familiar  intercourse  with  the 
religious  or  social  leaders  of  the  nation,  whom  he 
had  startled  in  his  twelfth  year  by  his  questions 
and    answers.     He    selected    his    disciples    from 


niS   PUBLIC   LIFE.  29 

among  the  illiterate  fishermen  of  Galilee,  and 
promised  them  no  reward  in  this  world  but  a  part 
in  the  bitter  cup  of  his  sufferings.  He  dined  with 
publicans  and  sinners,  and  mingled  with  the  com- 
mon people,  without  ever  condescending  to  their 
low  manners  and  habits.  He  was  so  poor,  that 
he  had  no  place  on  which  to  rest  his  head.  He 
depended,  for  the  supply  of  his  modest  wants,  on 
the  voluntary  contributions  of  a  few  pious  females ; 
and  the  purse  was  in  the  hands  of  a  thief  and  a 
traitor.  Nor  had  he  learning,  art,  or  eloquence, 
in  the  usual  sense  of  the  term,  or  any  other  kind 
of  power  by  which  great  men  arrest  the  attention 
and  secure  the  admiration  of  the  world.  The 
writers  of  Greece  and  Eome  were  ignorant  even  of 
his  existence,  until,  several  years  after  the  cruci- 
fixion, the  effects  of  his  mission,  in  the  steady 
growth  of  the  sect  of  his  followers,  forced  from 
them  some  contemptuous  notice,  and  then  roused 
them  to  opposition. 

And  yet  this  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  without  money 
and  arms,  conquered  more  millions  than  Alexander, 
Ca3sar,  Mohammed,  and  Napoleon ;  without  science 
and  learning,  he  shed  more  light  on  things  human 
and  divine  than  all  philosophers  and,  scholars  com- 
bined ;  without  the  eloquence  of  schools,  he  spoke 
such  words  of  life  as  were  never  spoken  before  or 
since,  and  produced  effects  which  lie  beyond  the 


30  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

reacli  of  orator  or  poet ;  without  writing  a  single 
line,  he  set  more  pens  in  motion,  and  furnished 
themes  for  more  sermons,  orations,  discussions, 
learned  volumes,  works  of  art,  and  songs  of  praise, 
than  the  whole  army  of  great  men  of  ancient  and 
modern  times.  Born  in  a  manger,  and  crucified 
as  a  malefactor,  he  now  controls  the  destinies  of 
the  civilised  world,  and  rules  a  spiritual  empire 
which  embraces  one-third  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  globe.  There  never  was  in  this  world  a  life 
so  unpretending,  modest,  and  lowly  in  its  outward 
form  and  condition,  and  yet  producing  such  extra- 
ordinary effects  upon  all  ages,  nations,  and  classes 
of  men.  The  annals  of  history  furnish  no  other 
example  of  such  complete  and  astounding  success, 
in  spite  of  the  absence  of  those  material,  social, 
literary,  and  artistic  powers  and  influences  which 
are  indispensable  to  success  for  a  mere  man. 
Christ  stands,  in  this  respect  also,  solitary  and 
alone  among  all  the  heroes  of  history,  and  presents 
to  us  an  insolvable  problem,  unless  we  admit  him 
to  be  more  than  man,  even  the  eternal  Son  of  God. 
We  will  now  attempt  to  describe  his  personal 
or  moral  and  religious  character  as  it  appears  in 
the  record  of  his  public  life,  and  then  examine  his 
own  testimony  of  himself  as  giving  us  the  only 
rational  solution  of  this  mighty  problem. 


(     3T.     ) 


f^^ 


HIS  FREEDOM^FROM  SIN. 

The  first  impression  which  we  receive  from  the 
life  of  JesTis  is  that  of  perfect  innocency  and  sin- 
lessness  in  the  midst  of  a  sinful  world.  He,  and 
he  alone,  carried  the  spotless  purity  of  childhood 
untarnished  through  his  youth  and  manhood. 
Hence  the  lamb  and  the  dove  are  his  appropriate 
symbols. 

He  was,  indeed,  tempted  as  we  are;  but  he 
never  yielded  to  temptation.^^  His  sinlessness 
was  at  first  only  the  relative  sinlessness  of  Adam 
before  the  Fall ;  which  implies  the  necessity  of 
trial  and  temptation,  and  the  peccability,  or  the 
possibility  of  sinning.  Had  he  been  endowed 
from  the  start  with  absolute  impeccability,  or  with 
the  impossibility  of  sinning,  he  could  not  be  a  true 
man,  nor  our  model  for  imitation:  his  holiness, 
instead  of  being  his  own  self  -  acquired  act  and 
inherent  merit,  would  be  an  accidental  or  outward 
gift,  and  his  temptation  an  unreal  show.  As  a 
true  man,  Christ  must  have  been  a  free  and  respon- 
sible moral  agent :  freedom  implies  the  power  of 


32  THE  PEKSON  OF  CIimST. 

choice  between  good  and  evil,  and  the  power  of 
disobedience  as  well  as  obedience  to  the  law  of 
God. 

But  here  is  the  great  fundamental  difference 
between  the  first  and  the  second  Adam :  the  first 
Adam  lost  his  innocence  by  the  abuse  of  his  free- 
dom, and  fell,  by  his  own  act  of  disobedience,  into 
the  dire  necessity  of  sin ;  while  the  second  Adam 
was  innocent  in  the  midst  of  sinners,  and  main- 
tained his  innocence  against  all  and  every  tempta- 
tion. Christ's  relative  sinlessness  became  absolute 
sinlessness  by  his  own  moral  act,  or  the  right  use 
of  his  freedom  in  perfect  active  and  passive  obe- 
dience to  God.  In  other  words,  Christ's  original 
possibility  of  not  sinning^'^  which  includes  the 
opposite  possibility  of  sinning,  but  excludes  the 
actuality  of  sin,  was  unfolded  into  the  imjpossibility 
of  sinning^^  which  can  not  sin  because  it  will  not. 
This  is  the  highest  stage  of  freedom  where  it  be- 
comes identical  with  moral  necessity,  or  absolute 
and  unchangeable  self-determination  for  goodness 
and  holiness.  This  is  the  freedom  of  God,  and 
also  of  the  saints  in  heaven ;  with  this  difference, 
that  the  saints  obtain  that  position  by  deliver- 
ance and  salvation  from  sin  and  death,  while  Christ 
acquired  it  by  his  own  merit.^* 

In  vain  do  we  look  through  the  entire  biography 
of  Jesus  for  a  sinde  stain  or  the  sli^^jhtest  shadow 


■     HIS   FREEDOM  FROM   SIN.  33 

on  his  moral  character.  There  never  lived  a  more 
harmless  being  on  earth.  He  injured  nobody,  he 
took  advantage  of  nobody.  He  never  spoke  an 
improper  word,  he  never  committed  a  wrong  action. 
He  exhibited  a  uniform  elevation  above  the  objects, 
opinions,  pleasures,  and  passions  of  this  world,  and 
disregard  to  riches,  displays,  fame,  and  favour  of 
men.  "  !N"o  vice  that  has  a  name  can  be  thought 
of  in  connection  with  Jesus  Christ.  Ingenious 
malignity  looks  in  vain  for  the  faintest  trace  of 
self-seeking  in  his  motives;  sensuality  shrinks 
abashed  from  his  "  celestial  purity ;  falsehood  can 
leave  no  stain  on  Him  who  is  incarnate  truth; 
injustice  is  forgotten  beside  his  errorless  equity; 
the  very  possibility  of  avarice  is  swallowed  up  in 
his  benignity  and  love  ;  the  very  idea  of  ambition 
is  lost  in  his  divine  wisdom  and  divine  self-abne- 
gation." ^^ 

The  apparent  outbreak  of  passion  in  the  expul- 
sion of  the  profane  traffickers  from  the  Temple  is 
the  only  instance  on  the  record  of  his  history  which 
might  be  quoted  against  his  freedom  from  the 
faults  of  humanity.  But  the  very  effect  which  it 
produced  shows  that,  far  from  being  the  outburst 
of  passion,  the  expulsion  was  a  judicial  act  of  a 
religious  reformer,  vindicating,  in  just  and  holy 
zeal,  the  honour  of  the  Lord  of  the  Temple.  It 
was  an  exhibition,  not  of  weakness,  but  of  dignit}- 


34  THE  PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

and  majesty,  which  at  once  silenced  the  offenders, 
though  they  were  superior  in  physical  strength, 
and  made  them  submit  to  their  well  -  deserved 
punishment  without  a  murmur.  They  were  over- 
awed by  the  presence  of  a  superhuman  power. 
The  cursing  of  the  unfruitful  fig-tree  can  still  less 
be  urged ;  as  it  evidently  was  a  significant  sym- 
bolical act,  foreshadowing  the  fearful  doom  of  the 
impenitent  Jews  in  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 
On  the  contrary,  these  two  facts  become  fully  in- 
telligible only  by  the  assumption  of  the  presence  of 
the  Divinity  in  Christ ;  for  they  represent  him  as  the 
Lord  of  the  Temple,  and  as  the  Lord  of  creation. 

The  perfect  innocence  of  Jesus  is  based,  not  only 
negatively  on  the  absence  of  any  recorded  word  or 
act  to  the  contrary,  and  his  exemption  from  every 
trace  of  selfishness  and  worldliness,  but  positively 
also,  on  the  unanimous  testimony  of  John  the 
Baptist,  and  the  apostles  who  bowed  before  the 
majesty  of  his  character  in  unbounded  veneration, 
and  declare  him  "just,"  "holy,"  and  "without 
sin."  ^^  It  is  admitted,  moreover,  by  his  enemies, 
— the  heathen  judge  Pilate,  and  his  wife,  repre- 
senting, as  it  were,  the  Eoman  law  and  justice  when 
they  shuddered  with  fear,  and  when  Pilate  washed 
his  hands  to  be  clear  of  innocent  blood ;  by  the 
rude  Ptoman  centurion  confessing  under  the  cross, 
in  the  name  of  the  disinterested  spectators :  "Truly 


HIS  FREEDOM  FROM   SIN.  35 

this  was  a  Son  of  God ; "  and  hj  Judas  himself, 
the  witness  of  his  whole  public  and  private  life, 
when  he  exclaimed  in  despair :  "  I  sinned  in 
betraying  innocent  blood."  ^"^  Even  dumb  nature 
responded  in  mysterious  sympathy;  and  the  be- 
clouded heavens  above,  and  the  shaking  earth 
beneath,  united  in  paying  their  unconscious  tri- 
bute to  the  divine  purity  of  their  dying  Lord. 

The  objection  that  the  Evangelists  were  either 
not  fully  informed'  concerning  the  facts,  or  mis- 
taken in  their  estimate  of  the  character  of  Christ, 
is  of  no  avail.  Eor,  in  addition  to  their  testimony, 
we  have  his  own  personal  conviction  of  entire 
freedom  from  sin ;  which  leaves  us  only  the  choice 
between  absolute  purity  and  absolute  hypocrisy: 
such  hypocrisy  as  would  be  the  greatest  moral 
monstrosity  on  record. 

The  very  fact  that  Christ  came  for  the  express 
purpose  of  saving  sinners,  implies  his  own  con- 
sciousness of  personal  freedom  from  guilt  and  from 
all  need  of  salvation.  And  this  is  the  impression 
made  upon  us  by  his  public  life  and  conduct.  He 
nowhere  shows  the  least  concern  for  his  own  salva- 
tion, but  knows  himself  to  be  in  undisturbed  har- 
mony with  his  heavenly  Father.  While  calling  most 
earnestly  upon  all  other  men  to  repent,  he  stood 
in  no  need  of  conversion  and  regeneration,  but 
simply  of  the  regular  harmonious  unfolding  of  his 


36  THE  PEESOISr   OF  CHRIST. 

moral  powers.  Wliile  directing  all  his  followers, 
in  his  model  prayer,  to  ask  for  the  forgiveness 
of  their  sins  as  well  as  their  daily  bread,  he  himself 
never  asked  God  for  pardon  and  forgiveness  except 
in  behalf  of  others.  While  freely  conversing 
with  sinners,  he  always  did  so  with  the  love  and 
interest  of  a  Saviour  of  sinners.  He  always  did 
so :  this  is  the  historical  fact,  no  matter  how 
you  may  explain  it.  "  And,  to  remove  every  doubt, 
we  have  his  open  and  fearless  challenge  to  his 
bitter  enemies  :  "  Which  of  you  convicteth  me 
of  sin  ? "  ^^  In  this  question,  which  remains  un- 
answered to  this  day,  he  clearly  exempts  himself 
from  the  common  fault  and  guilt  of  the  race. 
In  the  mouth  of  any  other  man,  this  question 
would  at  once  betray  either  the  height  of  hypo- 
crisy, or  a  degree  of  self-deception  bordering  on 
madness  itself,  and  would  overthrow  the  very 
foundation  of  all  human  goodness  ;  while,  from 
the  mouth  of  Jesus,  we  instinctively  receive  it  as 
the  triumphant  self- vindication  of  one  who  stood 
far  above  the  possibility  of  successful  impeachment 
or  founded  suspicion. 

The  assumption  that  Christ  was  a  sinner,  and 
knew  himself  such,  although  he  professed  the  con- 
trary, and  niade  upon  friends  and  enemies  the 
impression  of  spotless  innocency,  is  the  most 
monstrous  deception  that  can  well  be  imagined.    "If 


HIS   FREEDOM   FROM   SIN.  37 

Jesiis  was  a  sinner,  he  was  conscious  of  sin  as  all 
sinners  are,  and  therefore  was  a  hypocrite  in  the 
whole  fabric  of  his  character ;  realising  so  much 
of  divine  beauty  in  it,  maintaining  the  show  of 
such  unfaltering  harmony  and  celestial  grace,  and 
doing  all  this  with  a  mind  confused  and  fouled  by 
the  affectations  acted  for  true  virtues  !  Such  an 
example  of  successful  hypocrisy  would  be  itself  the 
greatest  miracle  ever  heard  of  in  the  world."  ^^ 

It  is  an  indisputable  fact,  then,  both  from  his 
mission  and  uniform  conduct,  and  his  express 
declaration,  that  Christ  knew  himself  free  from  sin 
and  guilt.  The  only  rational  explanation  of  this 
fact  is  that  Christ  was  no  sinner.  And  this  is 
readily  conceded  by  the  greatest  divines,  even 
those  who  are  by  no  means  regarded  as  orthodox.^^ 
The  admission  of  this  fact  implies  the  further 
admission,  that  Christ  differed  from  all  other  men, 
not  in  degree  only,  but  in  hind.  For  although  we 
must  utterly  repudiate  the  pantheistic  notion,  of 
the  necessity  of  sin,  and  maintain  that  human 
nature  in  itself  considered  is  capable  of  sinlessness, 
that  it  was  sinless,  in  fact,  before  the  Fall,  and  that 
it  will  ultimately  become  sinless  again  by  the 
redemption  of  Christ, — yet  it  is  equally  certain 
that  human  nature  in  its  ^present  condition  is  not 
sinless,  and  never  has  been  since  the  Fall,  except 
in  the  single  case  of  Christ;   and  that,  for  this 


38  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

very  reason,  Christ's  sinlessness  can  only  be  ex- 
plained on  tlie  ground  of  sucli  an  extraordinary 
indwelling  of  God  in  him  as  never  took  place  in 
any  other  human  being  before  or  after. 

The  Bible,  the  conscience  of  man,  and  the  daily 
experience  of  life,  unite  in  testifying  to  the  uni- 
versal fact  of  sin,  no  matter  how  we  may  explain 
it.  Sin  is  the  deep,  dark  mystery  of  history,  the 
stumbling-block  to  reason,  the  problem  of  problems, 
the  fruitful  source  of  all  misery  and  woe.  The 
literature  of  all  nations  and  ages  is  full  of  lamenta- 
tions over  this  most  awful  and  most  stubborn  of 
all  facts.  Even  heathen  philosophers,  historians, 
and  poets  acknowledge  it.  "The  evil  passions," 
says  Plutarch,  "are  inborn  in  man,  and  were  not 
introduced  from  without;  and,  if  strict  discipline 
would  not  come  to  aid,  man  would  hardly  be  tamer 
than  the  wildest  beast."  The  well-known  line  of 
the  Eoman  poet : — 

"  Video  meliora  proboque,  deteriora  sequor ; " 

and  that  other : — 

"  Nitimur  in  vetitum  semper  cupimusqne  negata," — 

have  often  been  quoted  as  a  striking  response  of 
the  heathen  conscience  and  experience  to  the  in- 
spired description  of  the  moral  conflict  between 
heaven  and  hell  in  every  soul  (Eom.  7).       And 


HIS   FEEEDOM  FKOM  SIN.  39 

as  to  the  actual  condition  of  morals  in  the  age  of 
Christ  and  the  apostles,  Seneca,  Tacitus,  Persius, 
and  Juvenal  give  the  most  unfavourable  accounts, 
which  fully  corroborate  the  dark  picture  of  St. 
Paul  in  the  first  chapter  of  his  Epistle  to  the 
Eomans.  "All  is  full  of  crime  and  vice,"  says 
Seneca;  "they  are  open  and  manifest:  iniquity 
prevails  in  every  heart,  and  innocence  has  not  only 
become  rare,  but  has  entirely  disappeared."  Mar- 
cus Aurelius,  the  Stoic  philosopher  on  the  throne 
and  the  peiS3Cutor  of  Christians,  complains  that 
"faithfulness,  the  sense  of  honour,  righteousness 
and  truth,  have  taken  their  flight  from  the  wide 
earth  to  heaven." 

If  this  is  the  testimony  of  the  sages  of  heathen- 
ism, what  shall  we  say  of  the  Christian,  whose 
sense  of  sin  and  guilt  is  deepened  and  sharpened 
in  proportion  to  his  knowledge  of  God's  holiness 
and  his  experience  of  God's  redeeming  grace.  The 
entire  Christian  world,  Greek,  Latin,  and  Protestant, 
agree  in  the  scriptural  doctrine  of  the  universal 
depravity  of  human  nature  since  the  apostasy  of 
the  first  Adam.  (The  modern  dogma  of  the  Eoman 
Catholic  Church,  that  the  Virgin  Mary  was  free 
from  hereditary  as  well  as  actual  sin,  might  be 
quoted  as  an  exception;  but  her  sinlessness  is 
explained,  in  the  papal  decision  of  1854,  by  the 
assumption  of  a  mii'aculous  interposition  of  divine 


40  THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

favour,  and  by  the  reflex  influence  of  the  merits  of 
her  Son.)  There  is  not  a  single  mortal  who  has 
not  to  charge  himself  with  some  defect  or  folly ; 
and  man's  consciousness  of  sin  and  unworthiness 
deepens  just  in  proportion  to  his  self-knowledge, 
and  progress  in  virtue  and  goodness.  There  is 
not  a  single  saint  who  has  not  experienced  a  new 
birth  from  above,  and  an  actual  conversion  from 
sin  to  holiness,  and  who  does  not  feel  daily  the 
need  of  repentance  and  divine  forgiveness.  The 
very  greatest  and  best  of  them,  as  St.  Paul  and  St. 
Augustine,  passed  through  a  violent  struggle  and 
a  radical  revolution ;  and  their  whole  theological 
system  and  religious  experience  rest  on  the  felt 
antagonism  of  sin  and  grace. 

But  in  Christ  we  have  the  one  solitary  and  ab- 
solute exception  to  this  universal  rule, — an  indi- 
vidual thinking  like  a  man,  feeling  like  a  man, 
speaking,  acting,  suffering,  and  dying  like  a  man, 
surrounded  by  sinners  in  every  direction,  with  the 
keenest  sense  of  sin,  and  the  deepest  sympathy  with 
sinners,  commencing  his  public  ministry  with  the 
call :  "  Eepent ;  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
at  hand  "  (Matt.  4 :  17);  yet  never  touched  in  the 
least  by  the  contamination  of  the  world ;  never  put- 
ting himself  in  the  attitude  of  a  sinner  before  God ; 
never  shedding  a  tear  of  repentance ;  never  regret- 
ting a  single  thought,  word,  or  deed ;  never  needing 


HIS  rrvEEDOM  FKOM   CIN.  4 1 

or  asking  divine  pardon ;  never  concerned  about  the 
salvation  of  his  own  soul ;  and  boldly  facing  all 
his  present  and  future  enemies,  in  the  absolute 
certainty  of  his  spotless  purity  before  God  and 
man. 

A  sinless  Saviour,  surrounded  by  a  sinful  world, 
is  an  astounding  fact'  indeed;  a  sublime  moral 
miracle  in  history.  But  this  freedom  from  the 
common  sin  and  guilt  of  the  race  is,  after  all,  only 
the  negative  side  of  his  character ;  which  rises  in 
magnitude  as  we  contemplate  the  positive  side, — 
namely,  his  absolute  moral  and  religious  perfection. 


(      42      ) 


HIS  PERFECT  HOLINESS. 

It  is  universally  admitted,  even  by  deists  and 
rationalists,  that  Christ  taught  the  purest  and 
sublimest  system  of  ethics,  one  which  throws  the 
moral  precepts  and  maxims  of  the  wisest  men  of 
antiquity  far  into  the  shade.  The  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  alone  is  worth  infinitely  more  than  all 
that  Confucius,  Cakya-Mouni,  Zoroaster,  Socrates, 
and  Seneca  ever  said  or  wrote  on  duty  and  virtue. 
Men  of  the  world  can  hardly  resist  its  power. 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  had  it  once  read  to  him  and 
his  friends  in  the  solitude  of  exile  by  a  son  of 
Count  De  Las  Cases,  and  "  expressed  himself  struck 
with  the  highest  admiration  of  the  purity,  the 
sublimity,  the  beauty  of  the  morality  which  it 
contained."  De  Las  Cases,  who  relates  this  fact 
in  his  Memoires,  adds :  "  We  all  experienced  the 
same  feeling." 

But  the  difference  between  Christ  and  the 
moralists  of  ancient  or  modern  times  is  still  greater 
if  we  come  to  the  more  difficult  task  of  practice. 
All   the   systems   of  moral   philosophy   combined 


HIS  PERFECT  HOLINESS.  /j  3 

could  not  regenerate  the  world.  Words  are  no- 
thing unless  they  are  supported  by  deeds.  A  holy 
life  is  a  greater  power  for  good  than  the  finest 
moral  maxim  or  essay.  In  this  respect,  the  differ- 
ence between  Jesus  and  the  great  sages  is  so 
radical  and  fundamental,  that  comparison  ceases. 
Cicero,  who,  with  all  his  excessive  vanity,  was  one 
of  the  noblest  and  purest  of  old  Eoman  characters, 
confessed  that  he  never  found  a  perfect  sage  in  his 
life,  and  that  philosophy  only  taught  how  he  ought 
to  be  if  he  should  ever  appear  on  earth.  It  is 
well  known  that  the  wise  men  of  Greece  and 
Eome  sanctioned  slavery,  oppression,  revenge,  in- 
fanticide or  exposure  of  infants,  polygamy,  con- 
cubinage, and  worse  vices ;  or,  like  the  avaricious 
and  venal  Seneca,  belied  their  purer  moral  maxims 
by  their  conduct.^^  The  greatest  saints  of  the  Old 
Testament,  even  with  the  help  of  divine  grace,  did 
not  rise  above  reproach ;  and  some  of  them  are 
stained  with  the  guilt  of  blood  and  adultery. 
It  may  be  safely  asserted,  that  the  wisest  and  best 
of  men,  even  among  Christian  nations,  never  live 
up  to  their  own  imperfect  standard  of  excellency. 

But  how  is  it  with  Christ  ?  He  fully  carried 
out  his  perfect  doctrine  in  his  life  and  conduct. 
He  both  was  and  did  that  which  he  taught :  he 
preached  his  own  life,  and  lived  his  own  doctrine. 
He  is  the  living  incarnation  of  the  ideal  standard 


44  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

of  virtue  and  lioliness,  and  the  highest  model  for 
all  that  is  pure  and  good  and  noble  in  the  sight  of 
God  and  man. 

Even  unbelievers  must  admit  this  fact.  "  Christ 
unites  in  himself,"  says  Theodore  Parker,  "the 
subliiiiest  precepts  and  divinest  practices,  thus 
more  than  realising  the  dream  of  prophets  and 
sages;  rises  free  from  all  prejudice  of  his  age, 
nation,  or  sect;  gives  free  range  to  the  Spirit  of 
God  in  his  breast ;  sets  aside  the  law,  sacred  and 
true,  honoured  as  it  was, — its  forms,  its  sacrifice, 
its  temple,  its  priests ;  puts  away  the  doctors  of 
the  law, — subtle,  irrefragable ;  and  pours  out  a 
doctrine  beautiful  as  the  light,  sublime  as  heaven, 
and  true  as  God."^^  And  Eenan,  much  as  he 
perverts  the  life  and  character  of  Jesus,  freely 
acknowledges,  that  both  in  word  and  in  work,  in 
the  doctrine  and  practice  of  morality,  the  hero  of 
Nazareth  "  is  without  an  equal ;  "  that  "  his  glory 
remains  perfect,  and  will  be  renewed  for  ever."  ^^ 

We  find  Christ  moving  in  all  ordinary  and  essen- 
tial relations  of  life,^*  as  a  son,  a  brother,  a  friend, 
a  citizen,  a  teacher,  at  home  and  in  public.  We 
find  him  among  all  classes  of  society, — with  sin- 
ners and  saints ;  with  the  poor  and  the  wealthy ; 
with  the  sick  and  the  healthy ;  with  little  children, 
grown  men  and  women ;  with  plain  fishermen  and 
learned  scribes ;  with  despised  publicans  and  hon- 


HIS  PERFECT  HOLINESS.  4$ 

oiired  members  of  the  Sanhedrin ;  with  friends  and 
foes;  with  admiring  disciples  and  bitter  perse- 
cutors ;  now  with  an  individual,  as  Nicodemus  or 
the  woman  of  Samaria ;  now  in  the  familiar  circle 
of  the  twelve ;  now  in  the  crowds  of  the  people. 
We  find  him  in  all  situations, — in  the  synagogue 
and  the  Temple ;  at  home  and  on  journeys ;  in 
villages  and  the  city  of  Jerusalem ;  in  the  desert  and 
on  the  mountain ;  along  the  banks  of  the  Jordan 
and  the  shores  of  the  Galilean  Sea ;  at  the  joyous 
wedding-feast  and  the  solemn  grave ;  in  the  awful 
agony  of  Gethsemane  ;  in  the  judgment-hall,  before 
the  high-priest,  the  king,  the  Eoman  governor,  rude 
soldiers,  and  the  fanatical  multitude  ;  and  at  last  in 
the  bitter  pains  of  the  cross  on  Calvary. 

In  all  these  various  relations,  conditions,  and 
situations,  as  they  are  crowded  within  the  few 
years  of  his  public  ministry,  he  sustains  the  same 
consistent  character  throughout,  without  ever  ex- 
posing himself  to  censure.  As  God,  according  to 
the  Bible,  is  one  and  the  same  always,  so  also 
Christ,  according  to  the  gospel.  Guizot  (in  his 
"  Meditations  on  the  Essence  of  the  Christian  Ee- 
ligion")  justly  remarks:  "The  most  perfect,  the 
most  constant  unity  reigns  in  Jesus,  in  his  life 
as  in  his  soul,  in  his  words  as  in  his  acts.  He  pro- 
gresses according  to  the  circumstances  in  which  he 
lives ;  but  his  progress  produces  in  him  no  change 


46  THE  PERSON   OF  CHRIST. 

of  character  or  design.  As  he  appeared  already 
in  his  twelfth  year  in  the  Temple,  full  of  the  sense 
of  his  divine  nature ;  so  he  remains  and  manifests 
himself  during  the  whole  course  of  his  public  mission. 
.  .  .  Everywhere,  and  under  all  circumstances,  he 
is  animated  by  the  same  spirit,  he  sheds  the  same 
light,  he  proclaims  the  same  law.''  He  fulfils  every 
duty  to  God,  to  man,  and  to  himself,  with  perfect 
ease  and  freedom,  and  exhibits  an  entire  conformity 
to  the  law,  in  the  spirit  as  well  as  the  letter. 
His  life  is  one  unbroken  service  of  God  in  active 
and  passive  obedience  to  his  holy  will ;  one  grand 
act  of  absolute  love  to  God  and  love  to  man ;  of  per- 
sonal self-consecration  to  the  glory  of  his  heavenly 
Father,  and  the  salvation  of  a  fallen  race.  In  the 
language  of  the  people  who  were  "  beyond  measure 
astonished  at  his  works,"  we  must  say,  the  more 
we  study  his  life :  "  He  did  all  things  well."^*  In 
a  solemn  appeal  to  his  heavenly  Father  in  the 
parting  hour,  he  could  proclaim  to  the  world  that 
he  had  glorified  him  in  the  earth,  and  finished  the 
work  he  gave  him  to  do  (John  17 :  3,  22). 


(    47    ) 


CHRIST'S  INTERCOURSE  WITH  MEN. 

Let  us  cast  a  glance  at  the  intercourse  of  Jesus 
with  various  classes  of  men. 

The  relation  of  Jesus  to  his  mother  is  without 
a  parallel,  and  points  to  his  divine  as  well  as 
human  character.  He  treats  her  with  the  respect 
and  tenderness  of  a  son,  and  yet  with  the  dignity 
and  authority  of  the  Messiah.  He  obeys  her  as 
man,  and  yet  commands  her  to  obey  and  to  follow 
him  as  her  Saviour  and  example.  He  was  subject 
to  his  parents,  and  thus  fulfilled  the  cardinal  virtue 
of  a  child  (Luke  2  :  51);  yet  even  in  his  twelfth 
year  he  told  them  that  he  owed  supreme  allegiance 
to  his  heavenly  Father  (Luke  2  :  48,  49^.  At  the 
wedding  of  Cana,  when  Mary,  with  the  best  inten- 
tion, ventured  to  interfere  with  his  Messianic  office, 
he  gently  rebuked  her  haste,  saying:  "  Woman,  what 
have  I  to  do  with  thee  ?  mine  hour  is  not  yet 
come."  And  his  mother  at  once  reverently  sub- 
mitted (John  2  :  4,  S).  On  a  later  occasion  when 
she  and  his  brothers  and  sisters — whether  they 
were  cousins,  or  children  of  Joseph  by  a  former 


48  THE  PERS0J5   OF  CHRIST. 

marriage,  or  younger  cliildren  of  Mary,  makes  no 
difference  liere — pressed  through  the  crowd  to  speak 
tp  him,  he  stretched  forth  his  hand  towards  his 
disciples  and  said:  "  Behold  my  mother  and  my 
brethren ;  for  whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my 
Father  which  is  in  heaven,  the  same  is  my  brother, 
and  sister,  and  mother"  (Matt.  12  :  46-50;  Luke 
8:  21;  Mark  3:  34).  And  when  a  certain 
woman  lifted  up  her  voice  and  said  to  him:  "  Blessed 
is  the  womb  that  bare  thee,  and  the  paps  which 
thou  hast  sucked,"  he  replied  :  "  Yea,  rather  blessed 
are  they  that  hear  the  word  of  God  and  keep  it " 
(Luke  II  :  27,  28).  He  manifested  his  filial  affec- 
tion in  his  dying  moments  on  the  cross  when  he 
committed  his  mother  to  his  bosom  disciple  with 
the  touching  words :  "  Woman,  behold  thy  son " 
(John  19:26).  It  is  the  cross  which  cements  pure 
spiritual  relationships,  and  makes  them  stronger 
and  dearer  than  ties  of  blood.  But  it  is  significant 
that  neither  here  nor  elsewhere  does  he  address 
Mary  as  "  mother,"  but  simply  as  "  woman,"  as  in 
prophetic  foresight  and  warning  against  Mario- 
latry. 

The  intercourse  of  Christ  with  his  disciples  was 
frank  and  familiar,  yet  inspiring  reverence  and 
awe.  They  both  loved  and  adored  him  as  their 
Friend  and  Lord,  and  put  their  whole  trust  in  him 
as  their  Saviour.     He  called  them  "  friends."     He 


CHRIST'S   INTERCOURSE  AVITII   MEN.  49 

washed  their  feet  in  condescending  humility.  He 
kept  nothing  from  them  which  they  could  bear  and 
which  tended  to  their  benefit.  He  bore  meekly 
and  patiently  with  their  ignorance,  their  want  of 
faith,  their  carnal  notions  of  the  Messiah,  and  their 
misunderstandings  of  his  sublime  spiritual  sayings. 
He  forgave  the  denial  of  Peter,  and  would  have 
forgiven  even  the  treason  of  Judas,  if,  instead  of 
hanging  himself  in  despair,  he  had  in  tearful  repent- 
ance fled  to  the  cross.  He  promised  his  disciples 
a  glorious  reward  in  heaven,  but  in  this  sinful 
world  only  poverty,  hatred,  persecution,  and  death. 
He  sent  them  as  sheep  among  wolves.  And  yet 
they  felt  irresistibly  drawn  to  him,  and  forsook  all 
to  follow  him.  Even  if  he  did  something  which 
offended  their  Jewish  prejudices,  as  his  open 
conversation  with  a  woman,  they  did  not  dare  to 
remonstrate,  being  convinced  that  their  Teacher 
could  do  nothing  wrong  or  improper  (John  4;  27). 
How  bitterly  did  Peter  bewail  his  unfaithfulness 
against  the  most  faithful  of  the  faithful !  Under 
his  guidance  a  dozen  poor,  unlearned  fishermen  of 
Galilee,  who  without  him  would  have  been  buried 
in  obscurity,  have  become  the  greatest  teachers  and 
benefactors  of  mankind!  Where  shall  we  look 
for  a  parallel  case  in  history  ? 

Jesus  was  a  friend  of  children.     All  good  men 
are.      True  greatness   of   character   is    based    on 
7 


50  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

childlike  simplicity.  The  innocence,  humility, 
and  trustfulness  of  childhood  are  a  reminiscence 
of  paradise,  and  have  an  irresistible  charm.  The 
last  favourite  exhortation  of  St.  John  was  :  "  Little 
children,  love  one  another ! "  Gerson,  the  celebrated 
Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Paris,  is  said  to 
have  ended  his  busy  life  on  the  heights  of  learning 
and  church  government  with  the  instruction  of 
children.  Luther  wrote  truly  childlike  letters  to  his 
children  in  the  midst  of  the  battles  of  the  Eefor- 
mation  during  the  Diet  of  Augsburg.  How  many 
of  the  noblest  men  and  women  now-a-days  find 
delight  in  instructing  and  caring  for  children  at 
home,  in  the  school,  in  the  orphan  asylum  !  And 
they  draw  their  inspiration  for  these  labours  of 
love  from  him  who  took  children  into  his  arms 
and  said :  "  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me, 
and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven"  (Mark  lo:  14),  who  praised  his  heavenly 
Father  for  revealing  the  counsel  of  his  mercy  unto 
babes  (Matt.  1 1  :  25),  and  who  commended  to  all 
his  followers  a  childlike  spirit  as  the  necessary 
condition   of   entering    into   his    kingdom    (Matt. 

18:3). 

The  intercourse  of  Jesus  with  women  was  like- 
wise truly  human,  and  yet  truly  divine.  What 
freedom  and  intimacy,  as  contrasted  with  rab- 
binical prejudices   and   the  Oriental  contempt  of 


cueist's  intercourse  with  men.  5"r^ 

woman !  What  elevation  above  sensual  passion ! 
What  purity  combined  with  familiarity!  What 
dignity  blended  with  tenderness !  He  who,  as 
the  Universal  Man  and  Saviour,  could  enter  into 
no  relation  of  equality  with  any  fallen  daughter  of 
Eve,  and  who  can  find  a  worthy  bride  only  in  the 
whole  Church  of  the  redeemed,  did  not  despise 
the  gifts  of  pious  women,  and  retreated  from  time 
to  time  to  that  home  of  peace  at  Bethany,  where 
the  busy,  practical  Martha  administered  to  his 
wants,  and  the  retiring,  contemplative  Mary  sat  at 
his  feet,  drinking  in  his  words  of  life  (Luke  i  o  :  38). 
The  groans  of  the  woman  in  travail,  and  the  joys 
of  the  mother  over  the  new-born  child,  reached 
his  sympathising  ear  (John  16:  21).  He,  the 
purest  of  the  pure,  who  condemned  even  the  lust- 
ful look,  as  adultery  of  the  heart  (Matt.  5  :  28), 
allowed  a  woman  of  ill-repute  to  wash  and  wipe 
his  feet  with  tears  of  repentance  in  the  house  of 
a  Pharisee  (Luke  7:  37,  38),  and  pardoned  an 
open  adulteress  with  the  warning :  '^  Go,  and  sin 
no  more"  (John  8:  11).  How  kindly  and  ear- 
nestly did  he  speak  to  the  Samaritan  Magdalene 
at  Jacob's  Well,  touching  her  conscience  at  the 
tenderest  spot,  directing  her  mind  to  the  true 
worship  of  an  omnipresent  God,  and  quenching 
the  thirst  of  her  soul  with  the  water  of  life 
(John  4).      To  the  weeping  Mary  Magdalene  he 


52  THE   PERSON   OF   CHllIST. 

appeared   in    the    glory  of   his    resurrection,  and 
filled  her  with  comfort  and  joy. 

He  approached  women  as  a  friend  and  brother, 
and  yet  as  their  Lord  and  Saviour.  Hence  they 
were  attracted  to  him  as  to  no  other  being,  with 
mingled  feelings  of  love  and  reverence,  and  in  the 
full  conviction  that  he  alone  could  satisfy  their 
deepest  wants  and  longing  after  God.  They  were 
"  the  last  at  the  cross  and  the  first  at  the  open 
sepulchre."  And  ever  since,  in  unbroken  succes- 
sion, the  noblest  and  purest  of  women  have  fled 
to  him  for  pardon  and  peace,  and  consecrated  to 
him  their  tenderest  and  strongest  affection,  for  the 
good  of  their  fellow-men.  What  would  woman  be 
without  Christ  ?  Her  condition  in  heathen  and 
Mohammedan  countries  gives  but  one  answer. 


(    S3    ) 


UNITY  OF  VIRTUE  AND  PIETY. 

The  first  feature  in  the  singular  perfection  of 
Christ's  character  which  strikes  our  attention  is 
the  harmony  of  virtue  and  piety,  of  morality  and 
religion,  or  of  love  to  God  and  love  to  man.  He 
is  more  than  moral,  and  more  than  pious:  he  is 
holy  in  the  strict  and  full  sense  of  the  word. 
There  is  a  divine  beauty  in  his  character,  the 
mere  contemplation  of  which  brings  purity,  peace, 
and  bliss  to  the  soul. 

Piety  was  the  soul  of  his  morality,  and  lifted  it 
far  above  the  sphere  of  legality  or  conformity  to 
law.  Every  moral  action  in  him  proceeded  from 
supreme  love  to  God,  and  looked  to  the  temporal 
and  eternal  welfare  of  man.  The  groundwork  of 
his  character  was  the  most  intimate  and  uninter- 
rupted union  and  communion  with  his  heavenly 
Father,  from  whom  he  derived,  to  whom  he 
referred,  everything.  Already  in  his  twelfth 
year  he  found  his  life-element  and  delight  in  the 
things  of  his  Father  (Luke  2  :  49).  It  was  his 
daily  food  to  do  the  will  of  him  that  sent  him, 


54  THE  PERSON  OF   CHRIST. 

and  to  finish  his  work  (Jolm  4:  34;  comp.  v. 
30).  To  him  he  loolced  in  prayer  before  every 
important  act,  and  taught  his  disciples  that  model 
prayer,  which,  for  simplicity,  brevity,  comprehen- 
siveness, and  suitableness,  can  never  be  surpassed. 
He  often  retired  to  a  mountain  or  solitary  place 
for  prayer,  and  spent  days  and  nights  in  sacred 
meditation.  But  so  constant  and  uniform  was 
his  habit  of  communion  with  the  great  Jehovah 
that  he  kept  it  up  amid  the  multitude,  and  con- 
verted the  crowded  city  into  a  religious  retreat. 
His  self-consciousness  was  at  every  moment  con- 
ditioned, animated,  and  impregnated  by  the  con- 
sciousness of  God.  Even  when  he  exclaimed  in 
indescribable  anguish  of  body  and  soul,  and  in 
vicarious  sympathy  with  the  misery  of  the  whole 
race :  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken 
me  ? "  ^^  the  bond  of  union  was  not  broken,  or 
even  loosened;  it  was  only  obscured,  as  the 
sun  by  a  passing  cloud;  and  the  enjoyment,  not 
the  possession,  of  it  was  for  a  moment  withdrawn 
from  his  feelings :  for  immediately  afterward  he 
triumphantly  exclaimed :  "  It  is  finished  !  "  and 
commended  his  soul  into  the  hands  of  his  Father. 
So  strong  and  complete  was  this  holy  union  of 
Christ  with  God  at  every  moment  of  his  life,  that 
he  fully  realised  the  idea  of  religion,  whose  object 
is  to  bring  about  such  a  union,  and  that  he  is  the 


UNITY   OF   VIRTUE   AND   PIETY.  55 

personal  representative  and  living  embodiment  of 
Christianity,  as  the  true  and  perfect  religion. 

With  all  this,  the  piety  of  Christ  was  no  in- 
active contemplation,  or  retiring  mysticism  and 
selfish  enjoyment,  bnt  thoroughly  practical,  ever 
active  in  works  of  charity,  and  tending  to  regene- 
rate and  transform  the  world  into  the  kingdom 
of  God.  "  He  went  about  doing  good."  His  life 
is  an  unbroken  series  of  good  works  and  virtues 
in  active  exercise;  all  proceeding  from  the  same 
union  with  God,  animated  by  the  same  love,  and 
tending  to  the  same  end, — the  glory  of  God  and 
the  happiness  of  mankind. 


(    56    ) 


COMPLETENESS  AND  UNIVERSALITY 
OFCHRISTS  CHARACTER, 

The  next  feature  we  would  notice  is  the  com- 
pleteness or  pleromatic  fulness  of  the  moral 
and  religious  character  of  Christ.  While  all  other 
men  represent,  at  best,  but  broken  fragments  of 
the  idea  of  goodness  and  holiness,  he  exhausts 
the  list  of  virtues  and  graces.  His  soul  is  a  moral 
paradise  of  charming  flowers,  that  shine  in  every 
variety  of  colour  under  the  blue  dome  of  the  skies, 
drink  in  the  refreshing  dews  of  heaven  and  the 
warming  beams  of  the  sun,  send  their  sweet 
fragrance  around,  and  fill  the  beholder  with  rap- 
turous delight. 

History  exhibits  to  ns  rare  men  of  command- 
ing and  comprehensive  genius,  who  stand  at  the 
head  of  their  age  and  nation,  and  furnish  material 
for  the  intellectual  activity  of  whole  generations 
and  periods,  until  they  are  succeeded  by  other 
heroes  at  a  new  epoch  of  developnlent.  As  rivers 
generally  spring  from  high  mountains,  so  know- 


COMPLETENESS  OF  HIS  CHARACTER      5/ 

ledge  and  moral  power  rise  and  are  ever  nourished 
from  the  heights  of  humanity. 

Abraham,  the  father  of  the  faithful ;  Moses,  the 
lawgiver  of  the  Jewish  theocracy ;  Elijah  among 
the  prophets;  Peter,  Paul,  and  John  among  the 
apostles;  Athanasius  and  Chrysostom  among  the 
Greek,  Augustine  and  Jerome  among  the  Latin, 
fathers ;  Anselm  and  Thomas  Aquinas  among  the 
schoolmen;  Leo  I.  and  Gregory  YIL  among  the 
popes ;  Luther  and  Calvin  in  the  line  of  Protestant 
reformers  and  divines ;  Socrates,  the  patriarch  of 
the  ancient  schools  of  philosophy ;  Homer,  Dante, 
Shakspeare  and  Milton,  Goethe  and  Schiller,  in 
the  history  of  poetry  among  the  various  nations 
to  which  they  belong ;  Eaphael  among  painters ; 
Charlemagne,  the  first  and  greatest  in  the  long 
succession  of  German  emperors ;  JSTapoleon,  tower- 
ing high  above  all  the  generd-ls  of  his  training; 
Washington,  the  wisest  and  best,  as  well  as  the 
first,  of  American  Presidents,  and  the  purest  and 
noblest  type  of  the  American  character, — may  be 
mentioned  as  examples  of  those  representative 
heroes  in  history  who  anticipate  and  concentrate 
the  powers  of  whole  generations. 

But  all  these  characters  represent  only  sectional, 
never  universal,  humanity :  they  are  identified 
with  a  particular  people  or  age,  and  partake  of 
their  errors,  superstitions,  and  failings,  almost  in 


$8  THE   PERSON   OF   CHEIST. 

the  same  proportion  in  which  they  exhibit  their 
virtues.  Moses,  though  revered  by  the  followers 
of  three  religions,  was  a  Jew  in  views,  feelings, 
habits,  and  position,  as  well  as  by  parentage ; 
Socrates  never  rose  above  the  Greek  type  of 
character ;  Luther  was  a  German  in  all  his  virtues 
and  faults,  in  his  strength  and  weakness,  and  can 
only  be  properly  understood  as  a  German ;  Calvin, 
though  an  exile  from  his  native  land,  remained  a 
Frenchman ;  and  Washington  can  be  to  no  nation 
on  earth  what  he  is  to  Americans.  The  influence 
of  these  great  men  may  and  does  extend  far  be- 
yond their  national  horizons ;  yet  they  can  never 
furnish  a  universal  model  for  imitation.  We  re- 
gard them  as  extraordinary  but  fallible  and  imper- 
fect men,  whom  it  would  be  very  unsafe  to  follow 
in  every  line  of  conduct.  Very  frequently  the 
failings  and  vices  of  great  men  are  in  proportion 
to  their  virtues  and  powers,  as  the  tallest  bodies 
cast  the  longest  shadows.  Even  the  Apostles  are 
models  of  piety  and  virtue  only  as  far  as  they  re- 
flect the  image  of  their  heavenly  Master ;  and  it 
is  with  this  express  limitation  that  Paul  exhorts 
his  spiritual  children:  "Be  ye  followers  of  me, 
even  as  I  also  am  of  Christ."  ^''^ 

What  these  representative  men  were  to  particular 
ages  or  nations  or  sects,  or  particular  scliools  of 
science  and  art,  Christ  was  to  the  human  family 


COMPLETENESS   OF  IIIS   CHARACTER.  59 

at  large  in  its  relation  to  God.  He,  and  he  alone, 
is  the  universal  type  for  universal  imitation. 
Hence  he  could,  without  the  least  impropriety  or 
suspicion  of  vanity,  call  upon  all  men  to  forsake 
all  things  and  to  follow  him.^^  He  stands  abovQ 
the  limitations  of  age,  school,  sect,  nation,  and 
race.  He  was  indeed  an  Israelite  as  to  the  flesh; 
walked  about  in  the  dress  of  a  Jewish  rabbi,  and 
not  of  a  Greek  philosopher;'  and  conformed,  no 
doubt,  to  the  Jewish  habits  of  daily  life.  But  this 
was  his  merest  outside.  If  we  look  at  his  inner 
man,  his  thoughts  and  actions,  they  are  of  universal 
significance.  There  is  nothing  Jewish  about  him 
that  is  in  the  least  repulsive  or  exclusive.  The 
particular  and  national  in  him  is  always  subor- 
dinated to  the  general  and  human.  He  was  never 
identified  with  a  party  or  sect.  He  was  equally 
removed  from  the  stiff  formalism  of  the  Pharisees, 
the  loose  liberalism  of  the  Sadducees,  and  the  in- 
active mysticism  of  the  Essenes.  He  rose  above 
all  the  prejudices,  bigotries,  and  superstitions  of  his 
age  and  people,  which  exert  their  power  even  upon 
the  strongest  and  otherwise  most  liberal  minds. 

Witness  his  freedom  in  the  observance  of  the 
Sabbath,  by  which  he  offended  the  scrupulous 
literalists,  while  he  fulfilled,  as  the  Lord  of  the 
Sabbath,  the  true  spirit  of  the  law  in  its  universal 
and  abiding  signifipance  f^  his  reply  to  his  disciples, 


60  THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

when  they  traced  the  misfortune  of  the  blind  man 
to  a  particular  sin  of  the  man  or  of  his  parents  ;*^ 
his  liberal  conduct  toward  the  Samaritans,  as 
contrasted  with  the  inveterate  hatred  and  preju- 
dice of  the  Jews,  including  his  own  disciples,  at 
the  time  ;^^  and  his  charitable  judgment  of  the 
slaughtered  Galileans,  whose  blood  Pilate  had 
mingled  with  their  sacrifices,  and  the  eighteen 
upon  whom  the  tower  in  Siloam  fell  (Luke  1 3  : 
1-4).  "Think  ye,"  he  addressed  the  children  of 
superstition,  "  that  these  men  were  sinners  above 
all  the  Galileans,  and  above  all  men  that  dwelt  in 
Jerusalem,  because  they  suffered  such  things  ?  I 
tell  you,  ISTay ;  but,  except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all 
likewise  perish." 

The  only  instance  of  Christ's  complicity  with 
popular  error "  and  superstition  which  rationalists 
can  point  to  with  some  degree  of  plausibility,  is 
his  belief  in  the  devil  and  in  demons.  But  they 
may  say  what  they  please  against  such  a  belief  as 
irrational;  experience  everywhere  disproves  their 
arguments :  while  they  get  rid  of  one  devil,  they 
cannot  deny  the  many  devils  in  human  shape, 
and  leave  them  even  more  inexplicable ;  for  it  is 
much  more  irrational  to  believe  in  the  continued 
existence  of  a  chaotic  wilderness  of  bad  men  and 
principles,  than  in  an  organised  empire  of  evil 
with  a  controlling  head. 


COMPLETENESS  OF  HIS  CHARACTER.      6 1 

As  the  pyramids  rise  high  above  the  sandy- 
plains  of  Egypt,  so  Christ  towers  above  all  human 
teachers  and  founders  of  sects  and  religions.  He 
is,  in  the  language  of  a  modern  infidel,  "  a  man 
of  colossal  dimensions."  He  found  disciples  and 
worshippers  among  the  Jews,  although  he  iden- 
tified himself  with  none  of  their  sects  and  tradi- 
tions ;  among  the  Greeks,  although  he  proclaimed 
no  new  system  of  philosophy ;  among  the  Eomans, 
although  he  fought  no  battle,  and  founded  no 
worldly  empire ;  among  the  Hindoos,  who  despise 
all  men  of  low  caste ;  among  the  black  savages  of 
Africa  and  the  red  men  of  America,  as  well  as  the 
most  highly  civilised  nations  of  modern  times  in 
all  quarters  of  the  globe*  All  his  words  and  all 
his  actions,  while  they  were  fully  adapted  to  the 
occasions  which  called  them  forth,  retain  their 
force  and  applicability  undiminished  in  all  ages 
and  nations.  He  is  the  same  unsurpassed  and 
unsurpassable  model  of  every  virtue  to  Christians 
of  every  generation,  every  clime,  every  sect,  every 
nation,  and  every  race. 


C    62    ) 


HARMONY  OF  ALL  GRACES  AND 
VIRTUES  IN  CHRIST. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  a  complete  catalogue 
of  virtues  would  do  justice  to  the  character  of 
Jesus.  It  is  not  only  the  completeness,  but  still 
more  the  even  proportion  and  perfect  harmony  of 
virtues  and  graces,  apparently  opposite  and  con- 
tradictory, which  distinguishes  him  specifically 
from  all  other  men.  This  feature  gives  the  finish 
to  that  beauty  of  holiness  which  is  the  sublimest 
picture  that  can  be  presented  to  our  contempla- 
tion. It  has  struck  with  singular  force  the  best 
writers  on  the  subject."*^ 

Christ  was  free  from  all  one-sidedness,  which 
constitutes  the  weakness  as  well  as  the  strength  of 
great  men.  He  was  not  a  man  of  one  idea,  nor 
of  one  virtue  towering  above  all  the  rest.  The 
moral  forces  were  so  well  tempered  and  moderated 
by  each  other,  that  none  was  unduly  prominent, 
none  carried  to  excess,  none  alloyed  by  the 
kindred  failing.  Each  was  checked  and  com- 
pleted by  the  opposite  grace.  His  character 
never  lost  its  even  balance  and  happy  equilibrium, 


HARMONY   OF   GRACES   AND   VIRTUES.  63 

never  needed  modification  or  readjustment.  It 
was  thoroughly  s^und  and  uniformly  consistent 
from  the  beginning  to  the   end. 

We  cannot  properly  attribute  to  him  any  one 
temperament.  He  was  neither  sanguine,  like 
Peter ;  nor  choleric,  like  Paul ;  nor  melancholic, 
like  John.  He  combined  the  vivacity  of  the  san- 
guine temperament  without  its  levity,  the  vigour 
of  the  choleric  without  its  violence,  the  serious- 
ness of  the  melancholic  without  its  austerity,  the 
calmness  of  the  phlegmatic  without  its  apathy. 

He  was  equally  far  removed  from  the  excesses 
of  the  legalist,  the  pietist,  the  ascetic,  and  the 
enthusiast.  With  the  strictest  obedience  to  the 
law,  he  moved  in  the  element  of  freedom ;  with  all 
the  fervour  of  the  enthusiast,  he  was  always  calm, 
sober,  and  self-possessed.  IvTotwithstanding  his 
complete  and  uniform  elevation  above  the  affairs 
of  this  world,  he  freely  mingled  with  society,  male 
and  female,  dined  with  publicans  and  sinners,  played 
with  little  children  and  blessed  them,  honoured  the 
wedding-feast  with  his  cheering  presence  and  first 
miracle,  shed  tears  at  the  sepulchre  of  a  friend, 
delighted  in  God's  nature,  admired  the  beauties  of 
the  lilies  of  the  field,  and  ennobled  the  occupations 
of  the  husbandman  for  the  illustration  of  the  sublime 
truths  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  His  virtue  was 
healthy,  manly,  vigorous,   yet   genial,  social,  and 


64  THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

winning ;  never  austere  and  repulsive ;  always  in 
full  sympathy  with  innocent  joy^nd  pleasure.  He, 
the  purest  and  holiest  of  men,  provided  wine  for  the 
wedding-feast;  introduced  the  fatted  calf  and  music 
and  dancing  into  the  picture  of  welcome  of  the  pro- 
digal son  to  his  father  s  house;  and  even  provoked  the 
sneer  of  his  adversaries,  that  he  "  came  eating  and 
drinking,''  and  was  a  "glutton"  and  a  "wine- bibber." 

His  zeal  never  degenerated  into  passion,  nor  his 
constancy  into  obstinacy,  nor  his  benevolence  into 
weakness,  nor  his  tenderness  into  sentimentality. 
His  unworldliness  was  free  from  indifference  and 
unsociability,  his  dignity  from  pride  and  presump- 
tion, his  affability  from  undue  familiarity,  his  self- 
denial  from  moroseness,  his  temperance  from 
austerity.  He  combined  child-like  innocence 
with  manly  strength,  absorbing  devotion  to  God 
with  untiring  interest  in  the  welfare  of  man, 
tender  love  to  the  sinner  with  uncompromis- 
ing severity  against  sin,  commanding  dignity 
with  winning  humility,  fearless  courage  with 
wise  caution,  unyielding  firmness  with  sweet 
gentleness. 

He  is  justly  compared  with  the  lion  in  strength, 
and  with  the  lamb  in  meekness.  He  equally 
possessed  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent  and  the 
simplicity  of  the  dove.  He  brought  both  the 
sword  against  every  form  of  wickedness,  and  the 


HAKMONY   OF   GRACES  AND   VIRTUES.  6$ 

peace  of  the  soul  winch  the  world  cannot  give. 
He  was  the  most  effective,  and  yet  the  least 
noisy,  the  most  radical,  and  yet  the  most  con- 
servative, calm,  and  patient,  of  all  reformers.  He 
came  to  fulfil  every  letter  of  the  law;  and  yet 
he  made  all  things  new.  The  same  hand  which 
drove  the  profane  traffickers  from  the  Temple, 
blessed  little  children,  healed  the  lepers,  and 
rescued  the  sinking  disciple ;  the  same  ear  which 
heard  the  voice  of  approbation  from  heaven,  was 
open  to  the  cries  of  the  woman  in  travail;  the 
same  mouth  which  pronounced  the  terrible  woe 
on  hypocrites,  and  condemned  the  impure  desire 
and  unkind  feeling  as  well  as  th^  open  crime, 
blessed  the  poor  in  spirit,  announced  pardon  to 
the  adulteress,  and  prayed  for  his  murderers ;  the 
same  eye  which  beheld  the  mysteries  of  God,  and 
penetrated  the  heart  of  man,  shed  tears  of  com- 
passion over  ungrateful  Jerusalem,  and  tears  of 
friendship  at  the  grave  of  Lazarus. 

These  are  indeed  opposite  traits  of  character, 
yet  as  little  contradictory  as  the  different  mani- 
festations of  God's  power  and  goodness  in  the 
tempest  and  the  sunshine,  in  the  towering  Alps 
and  the  lily  of  the  valley,  in  the  boundless  ocean 
and  the  dew-drop  of  the  morning.  They  are 
separated  in  imperfect  men,  but  united  in  Christ, 
the  universal  model  for  all. 
9 


(  66  ) 


HIS  PASSION  AND  CRUCIFIXION. 

As  all  active  virtues  meet  in  Jesus,  so  he  unites 
the  active  or  heroic  virtues  with  the  passive  and 
gentle.  He  is  the  highest  standard  of  all  true 
martyrdom. 

No  character  can  become  complete  without  trial 
and  suffering ;  and  a  noble  death  is  the  crowning 
act  of  a  noble  life.  Edmund  Burke  said  to  Fox, 
in  the  English  Parliament .  '  Obloquy  is  a  neces- 
sary ingredient  of  all  true  glory.  Calumny  and 
abuse  are  essential  parts  of  triumph."  The  ancient 
Greeks  and  Eomans  admired  a  good  man  strug- 
gling with  misfortune,  as  a  sight  worthy  of  the  gods. 
Plato  describes  the  righteous  man  as  one  who, 
without  doing  any  injustice,  yet  has  the  appear- 
ance of  the  greatest  injustice,  and  proves  his  own 
justice  by  perseverance  against  all  calumny  unto 
death;  yea,  he  predicts,  that,  if  such  a  righteous 
man  should  ever  appear  on  earth,  he  would  be 
scourged,  tortured,  bound,  deprived  of  his  sight, 
and,  after  having  suffered  all  possible  injury,  be 
nailed  to  a  post.'*^     No  wonder  that  ancient  fathers 


HIS  PASSION  AND  CRUCIFIXION.  6/ 

and  modern  divines  saw  in  this  remarkable  pas- 
sage a  striking  parallel  to  the  description  of  the 
servant  of  Jehovah  in  Isaiah  ch.  53,  and  an  uncon- 
scious prophecy  of  the  suffering  Christ. 

But  how  far  is  this  abstract  ideal  of  the  great 
philosopher  from  the  actual  reality  as  it  appeared 
three  hundred  years  afterward !  The  great  men  of 
this  world,  who  rise  even  above  themselves  on  in- 
spiring occasions,  and  boldly  face  a  superior  army, 
are  often  thrown  off  their  equilibrium  in  ordinary 
life,  and  grow  impatient  at  trifling  obstacles.  Only 
think  of  E'apoleon  at  the  head  of  his  conquering 
legions  and  at  the  helm  of  an  empire,  and  the  same 
Napoleon  after  the  defeat  at  Waterloo  and  on  the 
Island  of  St.  Helena.  The  highest  form  of  passive 
virtue  attained  by  ancient  heathenism  or  modern 
secular  heroism  is  that  stoicism  which  meets  and 
overcomes  the  trials  and  misfortunes  of  life  in  the 
spirit  of  haughty  contempt  and  unfeeling  indiffer- 
ence, that  is  by  a  destruction  of  the  finer  sensi- 
bilities, and  another  exhibition  of  selfishness  and 
pride. 

Christ  has  set  up  a  far  higher  standard  by  his 
teaching  and  example,  never  known  before  or  since, 
except  in  imperfect  imitation  of  him.  He  has 
revolutionised  moral  philosophy,  and  convinced  the 
world  that  forgiving  love,  holiness  and  humility, 
gentle  patience  in  suff-^^ing,  and  cheerful  submission 


6S  THE  PERSON   OF  CHRIST. 

to  the  lioly  will  of  God,  are  the  crowning  excellency 
of  moral  greatness.  "If  thy  brother,"  he  says, 
"trespass  against  thee  seven  times  in  a  day,  and 
seven  times  in  a  day  turn  again  to  thee,  saying,  I 
repent ;  thou  shalt  forgive  him "  (Luke  1 7 :  4). 
"  Love  your  enemies,  bless  them  that  curse  you,  do 
good  to  them  that  hate  you,  and  pray  for  them  that 
despitefuUy  use  you  and  persecute  you  "  (Matt.  5 : 
44).  This  is  a  sublime  maxim  truly;  but  still 
more  sublime  is  its  actual  exhibition  in  his  life. 

Christ's  passive  virtue  is  not  confined  to  the 
closing  scenes  of  his  ministry.  As  human  life  is 
beset  at  every  step  with  trials,  vexations,  and  hind- 
rances, which  should  serve  the  educational  purpose 
of  developing  its  resources  and  proving  its  strength, 
so  was  Christ's.  During  the  whole  state  of  his 
humiliation,  he  was  "a  man  of  sorrows,  and  ac- 
quainted with  grief"  (Isa.  53:  3),  and  had  to 
endure  the  "  contradiction  of  sinners  "  (Heb.  1 2  : 
3).  He  was  poor,  and  suffered  hunger  and  fatigue ; 
he  was  tempted  by  the  devil;  his  path  was  ob- 
structed with  apparently  insurmountable  diflculties 
from  the  outset;  his  words  and  miracles  called 
forth  the  bitter  hatred  of  the  world,  which  resulted 
at  last  in  the  bloody  council  of  death.  The  Phari- 
sees and  Sadducees  forgot  their  jealousies  and 
quarrels  in  opposing  him.  They  rejected  and  per- 
verted his  testimony ;  they  laid  snares  for  him  by 


tllS  PASSION  AND   CRUCIFIXION.  69 

insidious  questions ;  they  called  liim  a  glutton  and 
a  wine-bibber  for  eating  and  drinking  like  other 
men,  a  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners  for  his  con- 
descending love  and  mercy,  a  Sabbath-breaker  for 
doing  good  on  the  Sabbath  day ;  they  charged  him 
with  madness  and  blasphemy  for  asserting  his  unity 
with  the  Father,  and  derived  his  miracles  from 
Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  devils.  The  common 
people,  though  astonished  at  his  wisdom  and  mighty 
works,  pointed  sneeringly  at  his  origin;  his  own 
country  and  native  town  refused  him  the  honour 
of  a  prophet :  his  own  brothers,  we  are  told,  did 
not  believe  in  him ;  and,  in  their  impatient  zeal  for 
a  temporal  kingdom,  they  found  fault  with  his  un- 
ostentatious mode  of  proceeding.^*  Even  his  apos- 
tles and  disciples,  notwithstanding  their  profound 
reverence  for  his  character,  and  faith  in  his  divine 
origin  and  mission  as  the  Messiah  of  God,  yet  by 
their  ignorance,  their  carnal  Jewish  notions,  and 
their  almost  habitual  misunderstanding  of  his  spiri- 
tual discourses,  must  have  constituted  a  severe  trial 
of  patience  to  a  teacher  of  far  less  superiority  to 
his  pupils. 

To  all  this  must  be  added  the  constant  sufferings 
from  sympathy  with  human  misery  as  it  met  him 
in  various  forms  at  every  step.  What  a  trial  for 
him,  the  purest,  gentlest,  most  tender-hearted  of  men, 
to  breathe  more  than  thirty  years  the  foul  atmosphere 


70  THE  PEESON   OF   CHEIST. 

of  this  fallen  world ;  to  see  the  constant  outbursts 
of  sinful  passions ;  to  hear  the  great  wail  of  human- 
ity borne  to  his  ears  on  the  four  winds  of  heaven ; 
to  be  brought  into  personal  contact  with  the  blind, 
the  lame,  the  deaf,  the  paralytic,  the  lunatic,  the 
possessed,  the  dead;  and  to  be  assaulted,  as  it  were, 
by  the  concentrated  force  of  sickness,  sorrow,  grief, 
and  agony ! 

But  how  shall  we  describe  his  passion,  more  pro- 
perly so  called,  with  which  no  other  suffering  can 
be  compared  for  a  moment  ?  There  is  a  lonely 
grandeur  in  it,  foreshadowed  in  the  words  of  the 
prophet :  "  I  have  trodden  the  wine-press  alone, 
and  of  the  people  there  was  none  with  me  "  (Isa. 
63  :  3).  If  great  men  occupy  a  solitary  position, 
far  above  the  ordinary  level,  on  the  sublime  heights 
of  thought  or  action,  how  much  more,  then,  Jesus 
in  his  sufferings, — he,  the  purest  and  holiest  of 
beings !  The  nearer  a  man  approaches  to  moral 
perfection,  the  deeper  are  his  sensibilities,  the 
keener  his  sense  of  sin  and  evil  and  sorrow  in 
this  wicked  world. 

Never  did  any  man  suffer  more  innocently,  more 
unjustly,  more  intensely,  than  Jesus  of  !N"azareth. 
The  history  of  his  passion  presents,  within  the  narrow 
limits  of  a  few  hours,  a  tragedy  of  universal  signifi- 
cance, with  every  form  of  human  weakness  and  infer- 
nal wickedness;  of  ingratitude,  desertion,  injury,  and 


HIS  PASSION   AND   CRUCIFIXION.  7 1 

insult;  of  bodily,  and  mental  pain  and  anguish;  cul- 
minating in  the  most  ignominious  death  then  known 
among  Jews  and  Gentiles, — the  death  of  a  male- 
factor and  a  slave.  The  government  and  the  people 
combined  against  him  who  had  come  to  save  them. 
His  own  disciples  forsook  him ;  Peter  denied  him ; 
Judas,  under  the  inspiration  of  the  devil,  betrayed 
him ;  the  rulers  of  the  nation  condemned  him ; 
rude  soldiers  mocked  him;  the  furious  mob  cried, 
"  Crucify  him ! "  He  was  seized  in  the  night, 
hurried  from  tribunal  to  tribunal,  arrayed  in  a 
crown  of  thorns,  insulted,  smitten,  scourged,  spit 
upon,  compelled  to  carry  his  own  cross,  and  nailed 
to  the  accursed  tree  between  two  robbers  and  mur- 
derers ! 

How  did  Christ  bear  all  these  little  and  great 
trials  of  life,  and  the  death  on  the  cross  ? 

Let  us  remember  first,  that,  unlike  the  icy 
Stoics  in  their  unnatural  and  repulsive  pseudo- 
virtue,  he  had  the  keenest  sensibilities  and  the 
deepest  sympathies  with  all  human  grief,  that 
made  him  shed  tears  at  the  grave  of  a  friend  and 
in  the  agony  of  the  garden,  and  provide  a  refuge 
for  his  mother  in  the  last  dying  hour.  But  with 
this  touching  tenderness  and  delicacy  of  feeling  he 
ever  combined  a  serene  dignity,  a  sublime  self-con- 
trol, and  imperturbable  calmness  of  mind.  There 
is  a  commanding  grandeur   and   majesty  in  his 


72  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

deepest  sufferings,  which  forbid  a  feeling  of  pity 
and  compassion  as  incompatible  with  the  defe- 
rence for  his  character.  We  feel  the  force  of 
his  words  to  the  women  of  Jerusalem,  when  they 
bewailed  him  on  the  way  to  Calvary:  "Weep 
not  for  me,  but  weep  for  yourselves  and  your 
children." 

He  clearly  foresaw,  and  repeatedly  foretold  his 
passion  to  his  disciples. 

But  he  never  murmured, — never  uttered  dis- 
content, displeasure,  or  resentment.  He  was  never 
disheartened,  ruffled,  or  fretted,  but  full  of  confi- 
dence that  all  was  well  ordered  in  the  providence 
of  his  heavenly  Father.  His  calmness  in  the 
tempest  on  the  lake,  when  his  disciples  were  trem- 
bling on  the  brink  of  destruction  and  despair,  is 
an  illustration  of  his  heavenly  frame  of  mind. 
All  his  works  were  performed  with  a  quiet  dignity 
and  ease  that  contrast  strikingly  with  the  sur- 
rounding commotion  and  excitement.  He  never 
asked  the  favour,  or  heard  the  applause,  or  feared 
the  threat,  of  the  world.  He  moved  serenely,  like 
the  sun,  above  the  clouds  of  human  passions  and 
trials  and  commotions  as  they  sailed  under  him. 
He  was  ever  surrounded  with  the  element  of  peace, 
even  in  his  parting  hour  in  that  dark  and  solemn 
night,  when  he  said  to  his  disturbed  disciples : 
"Peace  I  leave  with  you,  my  peace  I  give  unto 


HIS  PASSION  AND   CKUCIFIXION.  73 

you;  not  as  the  world  giveth  give  I  unto  you. 
Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled,  neither  let  it  be 
afraid''  (John  14:  27).  He  was  never  what  we 
call  unhappy,  but  full  of  inward  joy,  which  he  be- 
queathed to  his  disciples  in  that  sublimest  of  all 
prayers,  "  that  they  might  have  his  joy  fulfilled  in 
themselves  "  (John  17:  13;  comp.  16:  33).  With 
all  his  severe  rebuke  to  the  Pharisees,  he  never 
indulged  in  personalities,  He  ever  returned  good 
for  evil.  He  forgave  Peter  for  his  denial;  and 
would  have  forgiven  Judas,  if,  in  the  exercise  of 
sincere  repentance,  he  had  sought  his  pardon. 
Even  while  hanging  on  the  cross,  he  had  only  the 
language  of  pity  for  the  wretches  who  were  driv- 
ing the  nails  into  his  hands  and  feet ;  and  prayed 
in  their  behalf :  "  Pather,  forgive  them ;  for  they 
know  not  what  they  do."  He  did  not  seek  or 
hasten  his  martyrdom,  like  many  of  the  early 
martyrs  of  the  Tgnatian  type,  in  their  morbid  en- 
thusiasm and  ambitious  humility,  but  quietly  and 
patiently  waited  for  the  hour  appointed  by  the 
will  of  his  heavenly  Pather. 

But,  when  the  hour  came,  with  what  self- 
possession  and  calmness,  with  what  strength  and 
meekness,  with  what  majesty  and  gentleness,  did 
he  pass  through  its  dark  and  trying  scenes  !  A 
prisoner  before  Pilate,  who  represented  the  power 
of  the  Eoman  Empire,  he  professes  himself  a  king 
10 


74  THE  PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

of  truth,  and  makes  the  governor  tremble  before 
him  (John  i8  :  37  ;  Matt.  27  :  19,  24).  Charged 
with  crime  at  the  tribunal  of  the  high-priest,  he 
speaks  to  him  with  the  majesty  and  dignity  of 
the  Judge  of  the  world  (Matt.  26:  64);  and  in 
the  agony  of  death  on  the  cross  he  dispenses  a 
place  in  paradise  to  the  penitent  robber  (Luke  2  2  : 
43).  In  the  history  of  the  passion,  every  word 
and  act  are  significant ;  from  the  agony  in  Geth- 
semane,  when  overwhelmed  with  the  sympathetic 
sense  of  the  guilt  of  mankind,  and  in  full  view  of 
the  terrible  scenes  before  him, — the  only  guiltless 
being  in  the  world,— he  prayed  that  the  cup  might 
pass  from  him,  but  immediately  added :  "  !N'ot  my, 
but  thy,  will  be  done,"  to  the  triumphant  excla- 
mation on  the  cross :  "  It  is  finished  !  "  Even  his 
dignified  silence  before  the  tribunal  of  his  enemies 
and  the  furious  mob,  when,  "  as  a  lamb  dumb 
before  his  shearers,  he  opened  not  his  mouth," 
is  more  eloquent  than  any  apology.  Who  will 
venture  to  bring  a  parallel  from  the  annals  of 
ancient  or  modern  sages  ?  Even  a  Eousseau  con- 
fessed :  "  If  Socrates  suffered  and  died  like  a  philo- 
sopher, Christ  suffered  and  died  like  a  God."  *^ 

The  nearer  we  approach  to  them,  the  more  we 
feel  that  the  sufferings  of  Christ  are  unlike  any 
other  suffering ;  that  he  died  the  just  for  the  un- 
just, the  Holy  One  for  sinners ;  and  washed  out 


HIS  PASSION  AND   CEUCIFIXION.  75 

with  his  blood  the  guilt  of  a  fallen  world.  We 
bow  down  and  adore  the  atoning  sacrifice  of  bound- 
less love.  The  mere  idea  of  a  divine  -  human 
Eedeemer  of  the  race  from  the  thraldom  of  sin 
and  death,  is  surpassingly  sublime  and  irresistibly 
attractive :  how  much  more  the  actual  reality  ! 
It  is,  indeed,  a  mystery  which  we  cannot  fully 
grasp;  but  a  mystery  so  palpably  divine  and 
heavenly  in  its  origin  and  character,  so  blessed 
in  its  effects,  that  head  and  heart  are  constrained 
to  bow  in  adoration  and  praise,  and  are  filled  with 
gratitude  and  joy.  The  passion  and  crucifixion  of 
Jesus,  like  his  whole  character,  stand  without  a 
parallel,  solitary  and  alone  in  their  glory,  and  will 
ever  continue  to  be  what  they  have  been  for  these 
eighteen  hundred  years  to  the  noblest  and  best  of 
men, — the  sacred  theme  of  meditation,  the  exem- 
plar of  suffering  virtue,  the  weapon  against  sin  and 
Satan,  the  stimulus  to  gratitude  and  holiness,  the 
source  of  comfort  and  peace. 


(    7^    ) 


SUMMARY. 


CHRIST S   CHARACTER    THE    GREATEST 
MORAL  MIRACLE  OF  HISTORY, 

Such  was  the  Jesus  of  JSTazaretli, — a  true  man  in 
body,  soul,  and  spirit,  yet  differing  from  all  men; 
a  character  unique  and  original  from  tender  child- 
hood to  ripe  manhood,  moving  in  unbroken  union 
with  God,  overflowing  with  love  to  man,  free  from 
every  sin  and  error,  innocent  and  holy,  devoted  to 
the  noblest  ends,  teaching  and  practising  all  virtues 
in  perfect  harmony,  sealing  the  purest  life  with 
the  sublimest  death,  and  ever  acknowledged  since 
as  the  one  and  only  perfect  model  of  goodness  and 
holiness.  All  human  greatness  loses  on  closer  in- 
spection ;  but  Christ's  character  grows  more  pure, 
sacred,  and  lovely,  the  better  we  know  him.  The 
T^ole  range  of  history  and  fiction  furnishes  no  par- 
allel to  it.  There  never  was  any  approach  to  it,  be- 
fore or  since,  except  in  faint  imitation  of  his  example. 
When  the  gifted  Herder  was  requested  by  Lavater 


SUMMARY.  77 

to  write  the  life  of  Jesus,  he  replied :  ''  I  to  write 
the  life  of  Jesus  ?  I^ever  !  The  Evangelists  have 
done  it  as  alone  it  can  and  ought  to  he  ivritten!* 
Whoever  attempts,  in  the  proper  spirit,  this  most 
difficult  task  of  history,  will  lay  down  his  pen 
discouraged,  and  subscribe  to  the  concluding 
confession  of  Pressense  :  "  Gladly,  thou  divine  Son 
of  Mary,  had  I  said  something  great  of  thee. 
At  times  I  thought  I  saw,  in  the  flashing  light 
of  a  blessed  hour,  thy  divine  majesty  adorned  in 
spotless  purity ;  but  as  I  was  about  to  fi^  the  holy 
vision,  the  pencil  trembled  in  my  unskilled  hand, 
and  I  could  give  only  a  pale  outline.  Who  are 
we  that  attempt  to  describe  thy  holiness  V 

!N"o  biographer,  moralist,  or  artist  can  here  do 
justice  to  the  reality.  The  actual  character  of 
Jesus  is  felt  to'  be  far  greater  than  any  concep- 
tion and  representation  of  it  by  the  mind,  the 
tongue,  or  the  pencil  of  man.  We  might  as  well 
attempt  to  empty  the  waters  of  the  boundless  sea 
into  a  bucket,  or  to  portray  the  splendour  of  the 
risen  sun  and  the  starry  heavens  with  ink.  E'o 
picture  of  the  Saviour,  though  drawn  by  the 
master  hand  of  a  Eaphael  or  Diirer  or  Eubens ; 
no  epic,  though  conceived  by  the  genius  of  a 
Dante  or  Milton, — can  improve  on  the  artless  nar- 
rative of  the  Gospels,  whose  only  but  all-powerful 
charm  is  truth.     In  this  case,  certainly,  truth  is 


78  THE   PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

stranger  tlian  fiction,  and  speaks  best  for  itself 
without  comment,  explanation,  or  eulogy.  Here, 
and  here  alone,  the  perfection  of  art  falls  short 
of  the  historical  fact,  and  fancy  finds  no  room  for 
idealising  the  real ;  for  here  we  have  the  absolute 
ideal  itself  in  living  reality.  It  seems  to  me  that 
this  consideration  alone  should  satisfy  a  reflecting 
mind  that  Christ's  character,  though  truly  natural 
and  human,  rises  far  above  the  proportions  of 
humanity,  even  in  its  purest  and  greatest  repre- 
sentatives. 

This  conviction  has  forced  itself  upon  many  of 
the  strongest  intellects,  among  sceptics  and  men  of 
the  world,  in  proportion  as  they  allowed  themselves 
to  yield  to  the  light  of  truth  and  the  power  of  facts. 
Jean  Jacques  Eousseau,  one  of  the  leaders  of  French 
infidelity  in  the  eighteenth  century,  admitted  that 
there  could  be  no  comparison  between  Socrates 
and  Christ;  as  little  as  between  a  sage  and  a 
God.  Napoleon,  though  a  stranger  to  Christian 
experience,  saw  with  his  keen  eagle-eye  that  Christ 
was  more  than  man ;  .and  that,  once  admitting  his 
divinity,  the  Christian  system  becomes  as  clear 
and  precise  as  a  problem  of  algebra.  His  remark- 
able utterances  on  this  subject  at  St.  Helena  may 
have  been  somewhat  modified  and  expanded,  but 
bear  the  unmistakable  evidence  of  the  Napoleonic 
grasp  and  style.      Goethe,  the  most  universal,  but 


SUMMARY.  79 

at  the  same  time  the  most  worldly,  of  modern  poets, 
calls  Christ  "  the  Divine  Man,"  "  the  Holy  One," 
and  represents  him  as  the  pattern  and  model  of 
humanity.  Jean  Paul  Frederick  Eichter,  another 
great  German  poet,  represents  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
as  "  the  purest  among  the  mighty,  the  mightiest 
among  the  pure,  who  with  his  pierced  hand  has 
raised  empires  from  their  foundations,  turned  the 
stream  of  history  from  its  old  channel,  and  still 
continues  to  rule  and  guide  the  ages."  ^^  Thomas 
Carlyle,  the  British  hero-worshipper,  finds  none 
equal  to  Jesus  in  all  the  range  of  ancient  and 
modern  heroism.  He  call  his  life  a  "perfect 
ideal  poem,"  and  him  "the  greatest  of  all 
heroes,"  whom  he  does  not  name,  leaving  "  sacred 
silence  to  meditate  that  sacred  matter."  Ernest 
Eenan,  the  famous  orientalist  and  critic,  who 
expels  all  miracles  from  the  gospel-history,  feels 
yet  constrained  to  call  Jesus  "  a  man  of  colossal 
dimensions;"  "the  incomparable  man,  to  whom 
the  universal  conscience  has  decreed  the  title  of 
Son  of  God,  and  that  with  justice,  since  he  caused 
religion  to  take  a  step  in  advance  incomparably 
greater  than  any  other  in  the  past,  and  probably 
than  any  yet  to  come  ;"  and  he  closes  his  "  Life  of 
Jesus  "  with  the  remarkable  concession :  "  Whatever 
may  be  the  surprises  of  the  future,  Jesus  will  never 
he  surpassed.     His  worship  will  grow  young  with- 


80  THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

out  ceasing;  his  legend  will  call  forth  tears 
without  end ;  his  sufferings  will  melt  the  noblest 
hearts ;  all  ages  will  proclaim,  that,  among  the 
sons  of  men,  there  is  none  born  greater  than 
Jesus."  *^  Dr.  Baur,  the  master  of  the  Tiibingen 
school  and  the  ablest  of  sceptical  critics,  after 
the  earnest  investigations  of  a  long  and  intensely 
studious  life,  came  to  the  conclusion  at  last  that 
the  person  of  Christ  remains  a  great  mystery  in 
history ;  and  that,  at  all  events,  the  whole  world- 
historical  significance  of  Christianity  hangs  on  his 
person.  ^ 

Yes :  Christ's  person  is,  indeed,  a  great  but 
blessed  mystery.  It  cannot  be  explained  ou 
purely  humanitarian  principles,  nor  derived  from 
any  intellectual  and  moral  forces  of  the  age  in 
which  he  lived.  On  the  contrary,  it  stands  in 
marked  contrast  to  the  whole  surrounding  world 
of  Judaism  and  Heathenism,  which  presents  to  us 
the  dreary  picture  of  internal  decay,  and  which 
actually  crumbled  into  ruin  before  the  new  moral 
creation  of  the  crucified  Jesus  of  ISTazareth.  He 
is  the  one  absolute  exception  to  the  universal 
experience  of  mankind.  He  is  the  central  miracle 
of  the  whole  gospel- history.  All  his  miracles  are 
but  the  natural  manifestations  of  his  person,  and 
hence  they  were  performed  with  the  same  ease 
with  which  we  perform  our  ordinary  daily  works. 


SUMMARY.  8 1 

In  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  they  are  simply  and 
justly  called  his  "works."  It  would  be  the 
greatest  miracle  indeed,  if  He,  who  is  a  miracle 
himself,  should  have  performed  no  miracles. 

Here  is  just  the  logical  inconsistency  of  those 
unbelievers  who  admit  the  extraordinary  character 
of  Christ's  person,  and  yet  deny  his  extraordinary 
works.  They  admit  a  cause  without  a  correspond- 
ing effect,  and  involve  the  person  in  conflict  with 
his  works,  or  the  works  with  the  person.  You 
may  as  well  expect  the  sun  to  send  forth  dark- 
ness as  to  expect  ordinary  works  from  such  an 
extraordinary  being.  The  person  of  Christ  accounts 
for  all  the  wonderful  phenomena  in  his  history,  as 
a  sufficient  cause  for  the  effect.  Such  a  power  as 
he  possessed  over  the  soul,  and  still  exercises  from 
day  to  day  throughout  Christendom, — why  should 
it  not  extend  also  over  the  lesser  sphere  of  the 
body  ?  What  was  it  for  him,  who  is  spiritually  the 
Eesurrection  and  the  Life  of  the  race,  to  call  forth 
a  corpse  from  the  grave  ?  Could  such  a  heavenly 
life  and  heavenly  death  as  his  end  in  any  other 
way  than  in  absolute  triumph  over  death,  and  in 
ascension  to  heaven,  its  proper  origin  and  home  ? 

The  supernatural  and    miraculous    element   in 

Christ,  let  it  be  borne  in  mind,  was  not  a  borrowed 

gift  or  an  occasional  manifestation,  as  we  find  it 

among  the  prophets  and  apostles,  but  an  inherent 

II 


82  THE  PEKSON  OF  CHRIST. 

power  in  constant  silent  or  public  exercise.  An 
inward  virtue  dwelt  in  his  person,  and  went  forth 
from  him,  so  that  even  the  fringe  of  his  garment 
was  healing  to  the  touch  through  the  medium  of 
faith,  which  is  the  bond  of  union  between  him  and 
the  soul.  He  was  the  true  Shekinah,  and  shone 
in  all  his  glory,  not  before  the  multitude  or  the 
unbelieving  Pharisees  and  scribes,  but  when  he 
was  alone  with  his  Father,  or  when  he  walked  in 
the  dark  night  over  the  waves  of  the  sea,  calming 
the  storm  of  nature  and  strengthening  the  faith  of 
his  timid  disciples,  or  when  he  stood,  before  his 
favourite  three,  between  Moses  and  Elijah,  on  the 
mount  of  transfiguration. 

Thus  from  every  direction  we  arrive  at  the 
conclusion,  that  Christ,  though  truly  natural  and 
human,  was  at  the  same  time  truly  supernatural 
and  divine.  The  wonderful  character  of  his  per- 
son forces  upon  us  the  admission  of  the  indwelling 
of  the  Divinity  in  him,  as  the  only  rational  and 
satisfactory  explanation  of  this  mysterious  fact. 
And  this  is  the  explanation  which  he  gives  him- 
self. 


(83    ) 


CHRIST S  OWN  TESTIMONY  CON- 
CERNING  HIMSELF. 

Theke  is  but  one  rational  explanation  of  this  sub- 
lime mystery;  and  this  is  found  in  Christ's  own 
testimony  concerning  his  superhuman  and  divine 
origin  and  character.*^ 

This  testimony  challenges  at  once  our  highest 
regard  and  belief  from  the  absolute  veracity  which 
no  one  ever  denied  him,  or  could  deny,  without 
destroying  at  once  the  very  foundation  of  his 
moral  purity  and  greatness. 

Christ  strongly  asserts  his  humanity,  and  calls 
himself,  about  eighty  times  in  the  Gospels,  the  Son 
of  man.^^  This  expression,  while  it  places  him  in 
one  view  on  common  ground  with  us  as  flesh  ot 
our  flesh  and  bone  of  our  bone,  already  indicates 
at  the  same  time  that  he  is  more  than  an  ordinary 
individual, — not  merely  a  son  of  man  like  all 
other  descendants  of  Adam,  but  the  Son  of  man ; 
the  Man  in  the  highest  sense;  the  ideal,  the 
universal,  the  absolute  Man;  the  second  Adam, 
descended  from  heaven ;  the  Head  of  a  new  and 


84  THE   PERSON  OF   CHRIST. 

superior  order  of  the  race,  the  King  of  Israel/ and 
the  Messiah  for  Jews  and  Gentiles.^^  It  is  more 
comprehensive  than  the  term,  "  the  Son  of  David," 
which  is  likewise  given  to  Christ  as  the  promised 
Messiah,  with  special  reference  to  the  Jews.^^ 

The  appellation  the  Son  of  m<x?i  does  not  express, 
then,  as  many  suppose,  the  humiliation  and  conde- 
scension of  Christ  simply,  but  his  elevation  rather 
above  the  ordinary  level,  and  the  actualisation,  in 
him  and  through  him,  of  the  ideal  standard  of  human 
nature  under  its  moral  and  religious  aspect,  or  in 
its  relation  to  God.  He  is  the  centre  of  the  unity 
of  mankind, — the  "recapitulation"  of  humanity, 
to  use  a  term  of  Irenaeus.  He  is  the  true  seed  of 
the  woman,  the  second  Adam,  who  was  to  restore 
what  the  first  Adam  lost.  He  fulfils  and  closes  the 
preceding,  and  opens  and  controls  the  succeeding, 
history  of  our  race.  All  men,  even  the  best  and  the 
greatest,  have  their  weaknesses  and  defects,  and  re- 
flect only  a  fragment  of  the  idea  of  humanity.  Once 
in  history,  and  once  only,  there  was  born  a  man 
who  represented  humanity  in  its  purity  without  the 
Satanic  adulteration  of  sin,  and  in  its  universality 
without  the  limitations  of  nationality  and  age. 
Christ  felt  more  humanly,  spake  more  humanly, 
acted,  suffered,  and  died  more  humanly,  than  any 
man  before  or  since  his  coming.  Every  word  and 
act  of  his  appeals  to  universal  human  sympathies, 


HIS  TESTIMONY  CONCERNING   HIMSELF.  8$ 

and  calls  out  the  moral  affections  of  all  without  dis- 
tinction of  race,  condition,  and  culture.  He  is  the 
archetypal  or  model  Man,  the  King  of  men.  He 
"  draws  all  men  "  to  him.  He  could  not  have  been 
so  perfect  a  man  without  being  also  divine. 

This  interpretation  of  the  title  "the  Son  of 
Man  "  is  supported  grammatically  by  the  use  of  the 
definite  article,  and  historically  by  the  origin  of  the 
term  (according  to  the  usual  acceptation)  in  Dan. 
7:  13,  14,  where  it  signifies  the  Messiah  as  the 
head  of  a  universal  and  eternal  kingdom.  In  the 
eighth  Psalm,  which  is  regarded  as  Messianic,  man 
is  represented  in  his  ideal  destination  with  refer- 
ence to  the  Messiah  as  the  true  head  of  humanity 
(comp.  Eom.  5  :  12 ;  I  Cor.  15:7;  Heb.  i  :  2-8). 
In  the  Syriac,  the  Saviour's  native  dialect.  Bar 
nosho,  the  Son  of  Man,  means  man  generically  ;  the 
filial  part  of  the  compound  denotes  the  identity 
and  purity  of  the  generic  idea. 

This  view  commends  itself,  moreover,  at  once  as 
the  most  natural  and  significant,  in  such  passages 
as,  "  Ye  shall  see  the  heavens  open,  and  the  angels 
of  God  ascending  and  descending  upon  the  Son  of 
man"  (John  i  :  51);  "He  that  came  down  from 
heaven,  even  the  Son  of  man  w^hich  is  in  heaven  " 
(John  3  :  13);  "  The  Son  of  man  hath  power  to 
forgive  sins  "  (Matt.  9:6;  Mark  2  :  10);  "  The 
Son  of  man  is   Lord  even  of  the  Sabbath-day" 


S6  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

(Matt.  12:8;  Mark  2  :  28) ;  "Except  ye  eat  the 
flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink  his  blood,  ye 
have  no  life  in  you  "  (John  6  :  53) ;  "  The  Son  of 
man  shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his  Father ; "  ^^ 
"  The  Son  of  man  is  come  to  save  "  (Matt.  18:  1 1  ; 
comp.  Luke  19:  10);  "  The  Father  hath  given 
him  authority  to  execute  judgment  also,  because 
he  is  the  Son  of  man  "  (John  5  :  27).  Even  those 
passages  which  are  quoted  for  the  opposite  view, 
receive,  in  our  interpretation,  a  greater  force  and 
beauty  from  the  sublime  contrast  which  places  the 
voluntary  condescension  and  humiliation  of  Christ 
in  the  most  striking  light,  as  when  he  says  :  "  Foxes 
have  holes,  and  birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but 
the  Son  of  man  hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head  " 
(Luke  9 :  58);  or,  "  Whosoever  will  be  chief 
among  you,  let  him  be  your  servant ;  even  as  the 
Son  of  man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but 
to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for 
many"  (Matt.  20:   27,  28). 

Thus  the  manhood  of  Christ,  rising  far  above  all 
ordinary  manhood,  though  freely  coming  down  to  its 
lowest  ranks  with  a  view  to  their  elevation  and 
redemption,  is  already  the  portal  of  his  Godhood. 

But  he  calls  himself  at  the  same  time,  and  he 
is  most  frequently  called  by  his  disciples,  the  Son 
of  Godj  in  an  equally  emphatic  sense.  He  is  not 
merely  a  son  of  God  among  others, — angels,  arch- 


HIS  TESTIMONY  CONCEENING  HIMSELF.  8/ 

angels,  princes,  judges,  and  redeemed  men, — but 
the  Son  of  God  as  no  other  being  ever  was,  is, 
or  can  be ;  all  others  being  sons  or  children  of 
God  only  by  derivation  or  adoption,  after  a  new 
spiritual  birth,  and  in  dependence  on  his  absolute 
and  eternal  Sonship.^*  He  is,  as  his  favourite 
disciple  calls  him,  the  only-legotten  Son,  or,  as  the 
old  Catholic  theology  expresses  it,  "  eternally  be- 
gotten of  the  substance  of  the  Father."  In  this 
high  sense  the  title  is  freely  given  to  him  by  his 
disciples,^^  without  a  remonstrance  on  his  part; 
and  by  God  the  Father  himself  at  his  baptism  and 
at  the  transfiguration.^^  It  is  significant,  too,  that, 
while  he  directs  us  to  address  God  as  "  our  Father," 
he  himself  always  addresses  him :  ''My  Father,"  or 
"  Father "  simply,  because  he  sustains  a  peculiar 
relation  to  him  far  above  the  level  of  human  chil- 
dren of  God,  who  are  made  such  only  by  regenera- 
tion and  adoption. 

Christ  founds  his  whole  doctrine  and  kingdom 
on  his  own  person.  His  divine-human  person  is 
his  constant  theme,  his  cause.  He  is  himself  the 
impersonation  of  the  gospel.  He  makes  the 
highest  claims  without  the  remotest  sense  of  pride 
or  ambition  or  vanity,  but  with  the  simplicity  and 
authority  of  self-evident  truth.  Hence  his  words 
have  such  an  overwhelming  power  over  the  hearts. 
"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you."     So  God  speaks  in 


88  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

the  Old  Testament,  but  no  man.  "  If  ye  believe  not 
that  I  am  he,  ye  shall  die  in  your  sins  "  (John  8  : 
24).  What  a  majesty  is  implied  in  this  declaration! 
Christ  represents  himself  constantly  as  being 
"  not  of  this  world/'  but  "  sent  from  God/'  as 
having  "  come  from  God/'  and  as  "  being  in 
heaven/'  while  living  on  earth  (John  3  :  13). 
He  not  only  announces  and  proclaims  the  truth 
as  other  messengers  of  God,  but  declares  himself 
to  be  "  the  Light  of  the  World  "  (John  8  :  12); 
"  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life "  (John  1 4 : 
6) ;  "  the  Eesurrection  and  the  Life  "  (John  1 1  : 
25).  "All  things,"  he  says,  "are  delivered  unto 
me  of  my  Father ;  and  no  man  knoweth  the  Son 
but  the  Father ;  neither  knoweth  any  man  the 
Father  save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the 
Son  will  reveal  him."  ^^  He  invites  the  w^eary  and 
heavy-laden  to  come  to  him  for  rest  and  peace 
(Matt.  II  :  28);  he  promises  life  in  the  highest 
sense,  even  eternal  life,  to  every  one  who  believes 
in  him ;  ^^  he  claims  and  admits  himself  to  be  the 
Christ,  or  the  Messiah,  of  whom  Moses  and  the 
prophets  of  old  testify,  and  the  King  of  Israel.^^ 
When,  in  view  of  his  approaching  death,  and 
under  a  solemn  appeal  to  tl^e  living  God,  he  was 
challenged  by  the  Jewish  high  priest,  in  the  name 
of  the  venerable  though  corrupt  theocracy,  with 
the  question :  "  Art  thou  the  Christ  (the  promised 


HIS   TESTIMONY   CONCERNING   HIMSELF.  89 

Messiah),  the  Son  of  God  ? "  he  calmly  and 
deliberately  answered  in  the  affirmative,  and 
pointed  him  to  his  glorious  return  in  the  clouds 
of  heaven ;  thus  proclaiming  himself,  in  the 
moment  of  the  deepest  humiliation  and  in  the 
face  of  the  apparent  triumph  of  the  powers  ot 
darkness,  the  God  -  like  Euler  and  Judge  of 
»mankind !  ^^ 

The  only  choice  here  is  between  a  truly  divine 
man  and  a  mad  blasphemer.  The  high  priest 
understood  the  meaning  of  this  solemn  affirmation 
better  than  many  modern  writers :  he  rent  his 
sacerdotal  garment,  and  exclaimed  in  indignation 
and  horror :  "  Thou  hast  spoken  blasphemy  !  " 

Jesus,  moreover,  repeatedly  represents  himself 
as  the  Lawgiver  of  the  new  and  last  dispensation 
(Matt.  5  :  22-24;  28:  19,  20);  as  the  Founder 
of  a  spiritual  kingdom  co-extensive  with  the  race, 
and  everlasting  as  eternity  itself ;  ^^  as  the  appointed 
Judge  of  the  quick  and  the  dead  ;  ^^  as  the  only 
Mediator  between  God  and  man  ;  as  the  Saviour 
of  the  world.^^  He  parts  from  his  disciples  with 
these  sublime  words :  "  All  power  is  given  to  me 
in  heaven  and  in  earth.  Go  ye,  therefore,  and 
teach  all  nations,  baptising  them  in  the  name  of 
the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost;  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  what- 
soever I  have  commanded  you :  and,  lo,  I  am  with 
12 


90  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

you  alway,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world  "  (Matt. 
28:    18-20). 

Here  he  claims  such  a  relation  to  the  eternal 
Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit  as  implies  both  the 
equality  of  substance  and.  the  distinction  of  person, 
and  leads  with  logical  necessity  to  the  doctrine  of 
the  Holy  Trinity.  For  this  doctrine  alone  saves 
the  divinity  of  Christ  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  with-^ 
out  affecting  the  fundamental  truth  of  the  Unity 
of  the  Godhead ;  and  keeps  the  proper  medium 
between  an  abstract  and  lifeless  monotheism  and 
a  polytheistic  tritheism. 

Christ  always  distinguishes  himself  from  God 
the  Father,  who  sent  him,  whose  works  he  came 
to  fulfil,  whose  will  he  obeys,  by  whose  power 
he  performs  his  miracles,  to  whom  he  prays,  and 
with  whom  he  communes,  as  a  self  -  conscious 
personal  being.  And  so  he  distinguishes  himself 
with  e(iual  clearness  from  the  Holy  Spirit,  whom 
he  received  at  his  baptism,  whom  he  breathed 
into  his  disciples,  and  whom  he  promised  to  send 
and  did  send  on  them  as  the  other  Paraclete  or 
Advocate,  as  the  Spirit  of  truth  and  holiness,  with 
the  whole  fulness  of  tl;ie  accomplished  salvation. 
But  he  never  makes  a  similar  distinction  between 
himself  and  the  Son  of  God ;  on  the  contrary,  he 
identifies  himself  with  the  Son  of  God,  and  uses 
this  term,  as  already  remarked,  in  a  sense  which 


HIS  TESTIMONY  CONCERNING   HIMSELF.  pi 

implies  much  more  than  the  Jewish  conception  of 
the  Messiah,  and  nothing  short  of  the  equality  of 
essence  or  substance. 

For  iie  claims,  as  the  Son  of  God,  a  real,  self- 
conscious  pre-existence  before  man,  and  even  before 
the  world  :  consequently,  also,  before  time;  for  time 
was  created  with  the  world.^*  Hence  the  Arian 
notion  of  a  tem^poral  pre-existence  of  Christ  is 
metaphysically  untenable.  It  assumes  a  creature 
to  have  existed  before  the  creation,  and  a  finite 
being  to  have  begun  existence  before  time.  Be- 
fore the  act  of  creation,  there  was  nothing  but  God 
and  eternity.  Time  is  the  necessary  form  under 
which  the  world  exists  successively,  as  space  is 
the  form  under  which  all  material  substances  exist 
simultaneously.  Time,  before  the  world,  could 
only  have  referred  to  God,  who  does  not  exist  in 
time,  but  in  eternity.  "  Before  Abraham  was  horn,'' 
or  legan  to  he,  says  Christ,  "  I  am ;  "  significantly 
using  two  distinct  verbs,  and  the  past  tense  in  the 
one  and  the  present  in  the  other  case,  to  mark  the 
difference  between  man's  temporal  and  his  own 
eternal  mode  of  existence.^^  In  the  sacerdotal  prayer, 
he  asks  to  be  clothed  again  with  the  glory  which 
he  had  with  the  Father  hefore  the  foundation  of  the 
world.^^  He  assumes  divine  names  and  attributes 
as  far  as  consistent  with  his  state  of  humiliation ; 
he  demands  and  receives  divine  honours  (John  5  : 


92  THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

23);  he  freely  and  repeatedly  exercises  the  pre- 
rogative of  pardoning  sin  in  his  own  name,  which 
the  unbelieving  scribes  and  Pharisees,  with  a  logic 
whose  force  is  irresistible  on  their  premises^  looked 
upon  as  blasphemous  presumption ;  ^^  he  familiarly 
classes  himself  with  the  infinite  Jehovah  in  one 
common  plural,  and  boldly  declares :  "  He  that 
hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father  "  (John  1 4  : 
9)  ;  "I  and  the  Father  are  one  "  (John  10  :  30).^^ 
He  co-ordinates  himself,  in  the  baptismal  formula, 
as  we  have  seen,  with  the  Divine  Father,  and  the 
Divine  Spirit  (Matt.  28:  19);  and  allows  himself 
to  be  called  by  Thomas,  in  the  name  of  all  the 
Apostles,  "Lord  and  God"  (John  20:  28). 

These  are  the  most  astounding  and  transcendent 
pretensions  ever  set  up  by  any  being.  He,  the 
humblest  and  lowliest  of  men,  makes  them  repeat- 
edly and  uniformly  to  the  last,  in  the  face  of  the 
whole  world, — even  in  the  darkest  hour  of  suffer- 
ing. He  makes  them,  not  in  swelling,  pompous, 
ostentatious  language,  which  almost  necessarily 
springs  from  false  pretensions,  but  in  a  natural, 
spontaneous  style,  with  perfect  ease,  freedom,  and 
composure,  as  a  native  prince  would  speak  of  the 
attributes  and  scenes  of  royalty  at  his  father's 
court.  He  never  falters  or  doubts,  never  apologises 
for  them,  never  enters  into  an  explanation :  he 
sets  them  forth  as  self-evident  truths,  which  need 


HIS   TESTIMONY   CONCERNING  HIMSELF.  93 

only  be  stated  to  challenge  the  belief  and  submis- 
sion of  mankind. 

ISTow,  suppose  for  a  moment  a  purely  human 
teacher,  however  great  and  good ;  suppose  a  Moses 
or  Elijah,  a  John  the  Baptist,  an  Apostle  Paul,  or 
John, — not  to  speak  of  any  uninspired  teacher, — 
to  say :  "  I  am  the  Light  of  the  World ; ''  "I  am 
the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life ; "  "I  and  the 
Father  are  one ; "  and  to  call  upon  all  men,  "  Come 
unto  me ;  "  '*  Follow  me,"  that  you  may  iind  "  life  '* 
and  "  peace,"  which  cannot  be  found  elsewhere  : 
would  it  not  create  a  universal  feeling  of  pity  or 
indignation  ?  No  human  being  on  earth  could  set 
up  the  least  of  these  pretensions,  without  being  set 
down  at  once  as  a  madman  or  a  blasphemer.^^ 

But  from  the  mouth  of  Christ  these  colossal 
pretensions  excite  neither  pity  nor  indignation, 
nor  even  the  least  feeling  of  incongruity  or  impro- 
priety. We  read  and  hear  them  over  and  over  again 
without  surprise.'^^  They  seem  perfectly  ;gatural, 
and  well  sustained  by  the  most  extraordinary  life 
and  the  most  extraordinary  works.  There  is  no 
room  here  for  the  least  suspicion  of  vanity,  pride, 
or  self-deception.  For  these  eighteen  hundred 
years,  these  claims  have  been  acknowledged  by 
millions  of  people  of  all  classes  and  conditions,  the 
most  learned  as  well  as  the  most  ignorant,  with 
an  instinctive  sense  of  the  perfect  agreement  of 


94  THE  PERSON   OF  CHRIST, 

what  Christ  claimed  to  be  with  what  he  really 
was. 

Is  not  tliis  fact  most  remarkable  ?  Is  it  not  a 
triumphant  vindication  of  Christ's  claims  ?  And 
can  we  deny  the  truth,  and  refuse  to  acknowledge 
his  divinity,  without  destroying  his  veracity,  and 
overthrowing  the  very  foundation  of  his  moral 
goodness  and  purity,  which  is  universally  acknow- 
ledged even  by  heretics  and  unbelievers  ?  If  he,  the 
wisest,  the  best,  the  holiest  of  men,  the  greatest 
teacher  and  benefactor  of  the  race, — acknowledged 
as  such  by  the  common  consent  of  the  civilised 
world, — declares  himself  one  with  the  Father,  and 
so  identifies  himself  in  will  and  aim,  in  essence  and 
attributes,  with  the  infinite  God,  to  an  extent  and 
in  a  sense  as  no  man  or  angel  or  archangel  could 
do  for  a  moment,  without  blasphemy  or  insanity, 
and  if  he  receives  the  divine  adoration  from  his 
own  disciples,  how  can  we,  in  logical  consistency, 
as  well  as  in  harmony  with  the  moral  and  religious 
instincts  of  our  nature,  refuse  to  fall  down  before 
him,  and,  with  Thomas,  to  exclaim  from  the  depths 
of  our  soul :  "  My  Lord  and  my  God  "  f^ 

This  is  the  "testimonium  animce  naturaliter 
Christiance,"  to  use  a  celebrated  expression  of  Ter- 
tullian.  It  is  the  testimony  of  the  soul  which  is 
originally  made  for  Christ,  and  longs  for  him,  and 
finds  no  satisfaction  of  its  infinite  desires  for  truth, 


HIS  TESTIMONT  CONCERNING  HIMSELF.  95 

beauty,  and  goodness,  until  it  "believes  in  Christ 
who  is  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life,  the 
divine  Man  and  the  incarnate  God  in  one  un- 
divided person  for  ever. 


C  96   ) 


EXAMINATION  OF  FALSE  THEORIES. 

THE    DENIAL    OF    MIRACLES. 

There  is  no  other  solution  of  the  mighty  problem 
within  the  reach  of  human  learning  and  ingenuity, 
than  the  one  given  by  Christ  himself.   ■ 

The  infidel  and  semi-infidel  theories  of  Christ's 
person  substitute  an  unnatural  wonder  and  moral 
monstrosity  in  the  place  of  the  supernatural 
miracle  which  they  endeavour  to  escape. 

Hume  says,  in  his  famous  "  Essay  on  Miracles  " : 
"  When  anyone  tells  me  that  he  saw  a  dead 
mail  restored  to  life,  I  immediately  consider  with 
myself,  whether  it  be  more  probable  that  this 
person  should  either  deceive  or  be  deceived,  or 
that  the  fact  he  relates  should  really  have  hap- 
pened. I  weigh  the  one  miracle  against  the 
other;  and,  according  to  the  superiority  which  I 
discover,  I  pronounce  my  decision,  and  always 
reject  the  greater  miracle.  If  the  falsehood  of 
his  testimony  would  be  more  miraculous  than 
the  event  which  he  relates,  then,  and  not  till 
then,   can   he   pretend    to   demand   my   belief  or 


THE  FALSE  THEORIES.  9/ 

opinion."  We  need  not  fear  this  test,  and  can 
turn  it  in  our  case  against  Hume  and  against 
every  doubter  of  the  great  miracle  of  Christ's 
person. 

The  life  of  Christ  was  not  spent  in  an  obscure 
corner  (Acts  26:  26),  but  before  the  eyes  of 
the  people,  before  Pharisees  and  Sadducees,  before 
Herod  and  Pilate,  before  Jews  and  Romans,  before 
friends  and  foes,  in  Galilee,  Samaria,  and  Judea. 
His  history  was  openly  proclaimed  again  and 
again  by  eyewitnesses  and  their  pupils  before 
the  people  and  the  Sanhedrim,  from  Jerusalem 
to  Eome.  It  was  believed  by  thousands  of  con- 
temporary Jews  and  Gentiles,  in  spite  of  bitter 
persecution  and  death.  It  was  sealed  by  the 
martyrdom  of  Apostles,  Evangelists,  and  Christians 
of  every  grade  of  society.  It  is  better  attested  by 
external  and  internal  evidence  than  any  history 
in  the  world. 

The  contemporaries  of  Jesus,  his  enemies  as 
well  as  his  friends,  believed  in  his  power  of 
miracles,  with  this  difference  :  that  the  one  traced 
it  to  Satan,  the  other  to  God.  Is  it  credible  that 
John  the  Baptist,  of  whom  no  miracles  are  re- 
corded, the  twelve  Apostles,  the  seventy  disciples, 
the  learned  and  clear-headed  Paul,  the  Evangelists, 
Nicodemus,  the  hostile  Pharisees  and  Sadducees, 
the  Sanhedrim,  and  the  common  people  in  Jeru- 
13 


98  THE   PEESON   OF   CUEIST. 

salem  and  the  villages  of  Galilee  who  witnessed 
his  mighty  works,  should  all  have  been  radically 
mistaken  ?  Had  they  not  eyes  and  ears,  and 
commonsense  as  well  as  we  ?  Is  there  a  more 
palpable  example  of  obvious  honesty  and  truth- 
fulness in  literature  than  the  pages  of  the  canon- 
ical Gospels  and  Epistles  ?  The  disciples  were 
by  no  means  over-credulous.  Thomas  was  de- 
cidedly sceptical ;  the  rest  are  often  censured  for 
their  want  of  faith,  and  it  was  only  after  the 
resurrection  that  they  reached  the  full  measure 
of  faith.  The  unbelieving  Pharisees  and  Sadducees 
had  every  motive  to  deny  the  miracles  of  Jesus, 
but  they  could  not  do  it  without  contradicting 
the  testimony  of  their  senses.  "No  miracles  are 
recorded  during  the  thirty  years  before  he  entered 
on  his  public  ministry.  This  silence  is  very  sig- 
nificant, and  an  indirect  argument  for  the  truth- 
fulness of  the  canonical,  as  compared  with  the 
apocryphal,  gospels.  He  exercised  the  power  of 
miracles  sparingly;  he  never  obtruded  them  on  any- 
body ;  he  made  no  display ;  he  never  sought  gain 
or  honour.  His  miracles  were,  without  exception, 
prompted  by  the  purest  motives  and  aimed  at  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  benefit  of  men ;  they  are 
miracles  of  love  and  mercy,  full  of  instruction  and 
significance,  and  in  harmony  with  his  character 
and  mission. 


THE  FALSE  THEORIES.  99 

The  historical  evidence  and  the  internal  char- 
acter of  the  miracles  are  entirely  in  their  favour. 
To  reject  them  imposes  upon  us  the  incredible 
belief  that  a  whole  generation  of  friends  and  foes, 
were  radically  mistaken  in  a  matter  of  common 
experience. 

But  we  are  told  that  miracles  are  impossible. 
This  is  an  d  priori  assumption  and  pseudo-philo- 
sophical prejudice,  in  the  face  of  the  apostolic  age, 
the  whole  Bible,  and  the  common  belief  of  man- 
kind in  all  ages.  It  is  an  unproved  dogma  turned 
against  facts.  It  proceeds  from  a  pantheistic  or 
materialistic  philosophy  "  which,  as  Bacon  says, 
leads  away  from  God,  while  true  philosophy  leads 
back  to  him.  If  we  believe  in  a  personal  God,  the 
Maker  and  Euler  of  the  world,  we  shall  find  no  diffi- 
culty in  miracles.  The  act  of  creation  is  the  first 
and  greatest  miracle,  which  no  reasonable  man  can 
deny,  any  more  than  the  fact  of  his  own  birth,  and 
which,  nevertheless,  no  philosopher  can  understand 
or  (explain.  This  world  and  the  life  in  it  must  have 
had  a  beginning.  Cuvier  says:  "Life  has  not 
always  been  on  earth,  and  it  is  possible  to  fix  the 
time  when  it  originated."  Agassiz  and  other  natu- 
ralists are  of  the  same  opinion.  Geology  and  biology 
prove  the  gradual  growth  and  development  of  earth 
and  its  inhabitants.  The  theory  of  progressive 
development   itself   necessarily    leads    back   to   a 


100  THE   PEESON   OF   CUEIST. 

beginning;  and  tliis  cannot  be  found  in  nothing 
(for  ex  nihilo  nihil  fit),  nor  in  dead  matter  which 
could  never  produce  mind,  but  only  in  the  creative 
will  of  an  infinite  intelligence  working  on  a  plan 
of  infinite  wisdom.  The  same  Almighty  power 
which  called  heaven  and  earth  and  man  into 
being,  still  controls  and  directs  the  laws  of  nature 
and  of  history.  These  laws  are  not  iron  chains 
by  which  their  author  has  bound  himself  hand 
and  foot,  but  elastic  cords,  rather,  which  he  can 
expand  or  contract  at  his  sovereign  will. 

It  is  incorrect  to  say  that  miracles  are  sus- 
pensions or  violations  of  the  unchangeable  laws 
of  nature,  and  therefore  impossible.  True  miracles 
are  above  nature,  not  agaiTist  nature,  as  revelation 
is  above  reason,  not  against  reason.  They  are  a 
manifestation  of  a  higher  law,  to  which  the  lower 
laws  must  obey.  We  find  in  nature  itself  one 
kingdom  ruling  over  the  other,  the  animal  over 
the  vegetable,  and  man  over  both.  In  man,  again, 
the  mind  rules  over  the  body.  Man  is  super- 
natural as  compared  with  the  lower  nature;  and 
the  mind  is  a  miracle  as  compared  with  the  body. 
If  we  raise  our  arm  in  obedience  to  our  will,  the 
law  of  gravity  is  held  in  temporary  abeyance,  or 
subordinated  to  the  higher  law  of  free  action,  but 
not  abrogated  or  discontinued.  Every  virtue  is  a 
victory  over  nature,  though   not  a  suspension  or 


THE  FALSE  TIIEOFJES.  10 1 

aninliilation  of  it.  If  a  man  can  act  upon  nature 
from  without  and  control  it,  why  not  much  more 
God,  the  independent  Lord  of  creation  ?  The  con- 
trol of  nature  by  the  will  of  man  is  no  miracle,  in 
the  proper  sense  of  the  term,  but  it  involves  all  the 
speculative  difficulties  which  are  urged  against  it  by 
materialists  and  atheists.  Eeasoning  from  analogy, 
we  have  a  right  to  ascend  to  a  higher  sphere."^^ 

The  belief  in  the  supernatural  and  miraculous, 
far  from  being  a  sign  of  intellectual  weakness,  has 
been  held  by  the  greatest  minds  in  all  ages  and 
nations.  It  is  only  since  the  last  century  that  the 
opposite  tendency  has  set  in,  but  philosophy  itself 
will  return  from  materialism  and  atheism,  which 
explain  nothing,  to  Christian  theism  which  alone 
accounts  for  the  problem  of  the  world,  by  tracing 
the  effect  to  a  satisfactory  cause. 

To  return  to  the  life  of  Christ,  the  presumption 
is  altogether  in  favour  of  his  having  performed 
extraordinary  works  in  correspondence  with  his 
extraordinary  person.  If  he  really  towers  so  high 
above  other  mortals  as  we  have  seen,  and  as  is 
generally  admitted  even  by  unbelievers,  we  must 
expect  from  him  deeds  which  equally  rise  above 
the  ordinary  level.  To  believe  in  his  miraculous 
person  is  to  believe  in  his  miraculous  works.  To 
do  the  former  without  the  latter  is  a  palpable 
inconsistency. 


102  THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

We  shall  now  examine  in  detail  the  infidel 
theories  of  the  Life  and  Character  of  Christ.  They 
may  be  reduced  to  three :  the  hypothesis  of  Im- 
posture, the  hypothesis  of  Enthusiasm,  and  the 
hypothesis  of  Poetic  Fiction.  In  other  words,  the 
gospel  story  is  either  a  conscious  lie,  or  a  self- 
delusion,  or  a  poem.  In  each  of  the  three  cases 
the  result  may  be  traced  either  to  Christ  himself  or 
to  his  disciples.  The  former  method  is  more  offen- 
sive, but  more  logical;  the  latter  makes  the  Apostles 
the  real  authors  of  Christianity,  which  is  absurd. 
The  three  hypotheses  exhaust  the  possibilities  of, 
the  case,  but  they  admit  of  various  modifications 
and  partly  run  into  each  other.  They  agree  in 
rejecting  the  truth  of  the  supernatural  and  divine 
in  Christ's  character,  but  otherwise  they  widely 
differ  and  refute  each  other.  The  theory  of  im- 
posture is  the  oldest  and  the  most  revolting ;  the 
theory  of  poetic  fiction  is  the  latest  and  most  in- 
genious, but  is  logically  forced  back  to  the  former, 
from  which  it  professed  at  first  to  shrink  in  moral 
indignation ;  the  theory  of  enthusiasm  occupies  an 
untenable  middle-ground.  Hence  the  alternative 
remains  as  at  first.  Christ  is  either  an  impostor 
and  blasphemer  w^ho  wrought  miracles  by  Beel- 
zebub, and  was  justly  crucified  by  the  Jews,  or  he 
is  the  Son  of  the  living  God  and  Saviour,  and 
rightly  worshipped  by  the  Christian  Church. 


THE  FALSE  THE0EIE3.  IO3 


I. — The  Hypothesis  of  Imposture. 

The  hypothesis  of  imposture  is  so  revolting  to 
moral  as  well  as  common  sense,  that  its  mere 
statement  is  its  condemnation.  It  was  invented  by 
the  Jews  who  crucified  the  Lord  to  cover  their  crime, 
but  has  never  been  seriously  carried  out,  and  no 
scholar  of  any  decency  and  self-respect  would  now 
dare  to  profess  it  openlyj^  How,  in  the  name 
of  logic,  common  sense,  and  experience,  could  an 
impostor — that  is,  a  deceitful,  selfish,  depraved  man 
— have  invented,  and  consistently  maintained  from 
beginning  to  end,  the  purest  and  noblest  character 
known  in  history  with  the  most  perfect  air  of 
truth  and  reality  ?  How  could  he  hava  conceived 
and  successfully  carried  out  a  plan  of  unparalleled 
beneficence,  moral  magnitude,  and  sublimity,  and 
sacrificed  his  own  life  for  it,  in  the  face  of  the 
strongest  prejudices  of  his  people  and  age  ? 

The  difficulty  is  not  much  lessened  by  shifting 
the  charge  of  fraud  from  Christ  to  his  disciples,  who 
were  said  by  the  lying  Sanhedrim  to  have  stolen 
his  body  and  thus  humbugged  the  world  (Matt. 
28  :  13).  But  the  Apostles  and  Evangelists  were 
anything  but  designing  hypocrites  and  deceivers,  and 
leave  upon  every  reader  the  impression  of  an  artless 


104  THE  PERSON   OF   CIIHIST.* 

simplicity  and  honesty  rarely  equalled  and  never 
surpassed  by  any  writers,  learned  or  unlearned,  of 
ancient  or  modern  times.  What  imaginable  motive 
could  have  induced  them  to  engage  in  such  a  wicked 
scheme,  when  they  knew  that  the  whole  world 
would  persecute  them  even  to  death  ?  How  could 
they  have  formed  and  sustained  a  conspiracy  for 
such  a  purpose,  without  ever  falling  out,  or  betray- 
ing themselves  by  some  inconsistent  word  or  act  ? 
And  who  can  seriously  believe  for  a  moment 
that  the  Christian  Church  for  these  eighteen 
hundred  years,  now  embracing  nearly  the  whole 
civilised  world,  and  among  them  the  strongest 
intellects  and  the  noblest  hearts — divines,  philo- 
sophers, poets,  orators,  statesmen,  and  benefactors  of 
the  race — could  have  been  duped  and  fooled  by 
a  Galilean  carpenter,  or  by  a  dozen  illiterate  fisher- 
men? Yerily,  this  lowest  form  of  infidelity  is 
the  grossest  insult  to  all  sound  reason  and  sense, 
and  to  the  dignity  of  human  nature. 

II. — The  Theory  of  Enthusiasm  or  Self- 
Deception. 

(l.)  Christ  himself  was  deceived. 

The  hypothesis  of  enthusiasm  or  self-deception, 
though  less  disreputable,  is  equally  unreasonable, 
in  view  of  the  uniform  clearness,  calmness,  self- 


■  THE  FALSE  TIIEOFJES.  I05 

possession,  humility,  dignity,  and  patience  of 
Christ, — qualities  the  very  opposite  of  those  which 
characterise  an  enthusiast.  We  might  imagine  a 
Jew  of  that  age  to  have  fancied  himself  the 
Messiah  and  the  Son  of  God;  but  instead  of 
opposing  all  the  popular  notions,  and  discourag- 
ing all  the  temporal  hopes  of  his  countrymen,  he 
would,  like  Barcokeba  of  a  later  period,  have 
headed  a  rebellion  against  the  hated  tyranny  of 
the  Eomans,  and  endeavoured  to  establish  a 
temporal  kingdom.  Enthusiasm,  which  in  this  case 
must  have  bordered  on  madness  itself,  instead  of 
calmly  and  patiently  bearing  the  malignant  opposi- 
tion of  the  leaders  of  the  nation,  would  have  broken 
out  in  violent  passion  and  precipitate  action. 

Christ's  intellect  is  truly  marvellous.  He  never 
erred  in  his  judgment  of  men  and  things ;  he  was 
never  deceived  by  appearances;  he  penetrated 
through  the  surface,  and  always  went  straight  to 
the  heart  and  marrow ;  he  never  asked  a  question 
which  w^as  not  perfectly  appropriate;  he  never 
gave  an  answer  which  was  not  fully  to  the  point, 
or  which  could  be  better  conceived  and  expressed. 
How  often  did  he  silence  his  cavillers,  the  shrewd 
and  cunning  priests  and  scribes,  by  a  short  sen- 
tence which  hit  the  nail  on  the  head,  or  struck 
like  lightning  into  their  conscience,  or  wisely 
evaded  the  trap  laid  for  him !  When  the  Pliari- 
14 


I06  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

sees  and  Herodians,  with  the  malicious  intention 
to  entangle  him  into  their  political  party  quarrels, 
asked  him  whether  it  was  lawful  to  pay  taxes 
to  the  Eoman  government,  he,  perceiving  their 
wickedness,  called  for  a  denarius  with  the  super- 
scription of  the  Eoman  emperor,  and  said  :  "  Eender 
unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,  and  unto 
God  the  things  that  are  God's."  This  word,  which 
settles;  in  principle,  the  whole  vexed  question 
between  Church  and  State,  may  be  called  the 
wisest  answer  ever  given  by  any  man.  When  the 
Sadducees,  who  denied  the  resurrection,  laid  before 
him  a  perplexing  question  concerning  the  marriage 
relation  in  the  future  state,  he  solved  the  difficulty 
by  removing  all  foundation  for  it;  and  then, 
appealing  to  the  very  part  of  the  Old  Testament 
which  they  professed  to  believe,  to  the  exclusion 
of  the  later  parts  of  the  canon,  he  asked  them: 
"Have  ye  not  read  that  which  was  spoken  unto 
you  by  God,  saying,  I  am  the  God  of  Abraham, 
and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob  ? 
God  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  hut  of  the  living.*' 
By  this  short  comment  he  opened  the  profound 
meaning  of  this  title  of  God,  which  no  one  had 
seen  in  it  before,  but  which,  being  once  brought  to 
light,  was  so  clear  and  transparent  that  even  the 
Sadducees  were  silenced,  and  the  multitude  aston- 
ished.    And  when  the   sanctimonious   hypocrites, 


THE   FALSE   THEORIES.  10/ 

in  the  case  of  the  adulterous  woman,  hoped  to 
involve  him  in  a  contradiction  with  the  rigour  of 
the  law,  he  brought  the  matter  home  to  their  own 
conscience  by  saying:  "He  that  is  without  sin 
among  you,  let  him  first  cast  a  stone  at  her ; "  and 
they,  "being  convicted  by  their  own  conscience, 
went  out  one  by  one,  beginning  at  the  eldest,  even 
unto  the  last."  Christ  never  lost  the  balance  of 
mind  under  excitement,  nor  the  clearness  of  vision 
under  embarrassment;  he  never  violated  the  most 
perfect  good  taste  in  any  of  his  sayings. 

Is  such  an  intellect — clear  as  the  sky,  bracing 
as  the  mountain  air,  sharp  and  penetrating  as  a 
sword,  thoroughly  healthy  and  vigorous,  always 
ready  and  always  self-possessed — liable  to  a  radical 
and  most  serious  delusion  concerning  his  own  char- 
acter and  mission  ?     Preposterous  imagination ! 

Let  us  hear  the  most  eminent  Unitarian  divine 
on  this  hypothesis  : — 

"The  charge,"  says  Dr.  Channing,  "of  an  ex- 
travagant, self-deluding  enthusiasm  is  the  last  to 
be  fastened  on  Jesus.  Where  can  we  find  the 
traces  of  it  in  his  history  ?  Do  we  detect  them  in 
the  calm  authority  of  his  precepts;  in  the  mild, 
practical,  and  beneficent  spirit  of  his  religion ;  in 
the  unlaboured  simplicity  of  the  language  with 
which  he  unfolds  his  high  powers  and  the  sublime 
truths    of   religion;   or    in    the    good    sense,    the 


io8  THE  rEPvSON  of  ciirjsT, 

knowledge  of  human  nature,  which  he  alw^ays  dis- 
covers in  his  estimate  and  treatment  of  the  differ- 
ent classes  of  men  with  whom  he  acted  ?  Do  we 
discover  this  enthusiasm  in  the  singular  fact,  that 
whilst  he  claimed  power  in  the  future  world,  and 
always  turned  men's  minds  to  heaven,  he  never 
indulged  his  own  imagination,  or  stimulated  that 
of  his  disciples,  by  giving  vivid  pictures  or  any 
minute  description  of  that  unseen  state  ?  The 
truth  is,  that,  remarkable  as  w^as  the  character  of 
Jesus,  it  was  distinguished  by  nothing  more  than 
by  calmness  and  self-possession.  This  trait  per- 
vades his  other  excellences.  How  calm  was  his 
piety!  Point  me,  if  you  can,  to  one  vehement, 
passionate  expression  of  his  religious  feelings. 
Does  the  Lord's  Prayer  breathe  a  feverish  en- 
thusiasm ?  .  .  .  .  His  benevolence,  too,  though 
singularly  earnest  and  deep,  was  composed  and 
serene.  He  never  lost  the  possession  of  himself 
in  his  sympathy  with  others;  was  never  hurried 
into  the  impatient  and  rash  enterprises  of  an  en- 
thusiastic philanthropy;  but  did  good  with  the 
tranquillity  and  constancy  which  mark  the  pro- 
vidence of  God."  ^* 

(2.)   The  Evangelists  were  deceived. — The  Ration^ 
alistic  Explanation. 
The  hypothesis  of  delusion  may  be  shifted  from 


THE  FALSE  THEORIES.  IO9 

Christ  to  the  Apostles  and  Evangelists.  It  may 
be  supposed  that  they  honestly  mistook  an  ex- 
traordinary man  for  a  divine  being,  and  extra- 
ordinary medical  cures  for  supernatural  miracles. 

This  is  the  view  of  the  older  rationalistic  or  the 
natural  interpretation  so  called  of  the  gospel  his- 
tory.^^  It  forms  a  parallel  to  the  heathen  ration- 
alism of  Euhemerus,  of  the  Cyrenaic  school:  he 
explained  the  gods  of  the  Greek  mythology  as 
human  sages,  heroes,  kings,  and  tyrants,  whose 
superior  knowledge  or  great  deeds  secured  them 
divine  honours,  and  the  hero-worship  of  posterity/^ 

The  rationalistic  explanation,  after  having  been 
tried  first,  by  Eichhorn  and  others,  with  the 
miracles  of  the  Old  Testament,  was  fully  developed 
and  applied  to  the  gospel- history,  with  an  unusual 
degree  of  patient  and  painstaking  learning  and 
acumen,  by  H.  E.  G.  Paulus,  of  Heidelberg. "^^ 

This  German  Euhemerus  takes  the  gospel-history 
as  actual  history ;  but,  by  a  critical  separation  of 
what  he  calls  fact  from  what  he  calls  judgment  of 
the  actor  or  narrator,  he  explains  it  exclusively  from 
natural  causes,  and  thus  brings  it  down  to  the 
level  of  everyday  experience.  Jesus  was  indeed 
a  wise,  noble,  and  virtuous  Eabbi,  who  distinguished 
himself  above  all  his  contemporaries  by  works  of 
philanthropy,  medical  skill,  perhaps  also  magnetic 
cures,  and  exerted  an  uncommon  influence   upon 


no  THE  PERSON  OF  CIIIUST. 

the  heart.  But  the  supernatural  events  related 
by  the  Evangelists,  and  sincerely  believed  by  them, 
are  erroneous  conceptions  and  innocent  amplifica- 
tions of  historical  facts  which  fall  within  the  sphere 
of  the  laws  of  nature.  Sometimes  the  fault  lies 
only  in  the  reader  or  interpreter,  and  the  supposed 
miracle  turns  out  to  be  a  grammatical  blunder; 
as,  for  example,  when  Christ's  "walking  on  the 
sea  "  (Matt.  14  :  25),  which  means  simply  his  walk- 
ing on  the  hank  of  the  sea,  or  on  the  high  shore 
above  the  sea, — a  very  easy  and  natural  perform- 
ance indeed! — is  turned  into  a  walking  on  the 
surface  of  the  sea,  or  over  the  sea/^  In  most  cases 
the  mistake  originated  with  the  first  observers. 

This  interpretation,  which  claims  to  be  "  natural," 
turns  out  to  be  very  unnatural,  and  contradicts  the 
context,  the  laws  of  hermeneutics,  and  common- 
sense  itself.  Its  exposition  is  wretched  imposition. 
Gothe  characterises  it  well  in  these  lines : 

**Im  Auslegen  seid  frisch  und  munter 
Legt  ihr's  nicht  aus,  so  legt  was  unter," 

It  is  only  necessary  to  give  some  specimens 
from  the  exegesis  of  Paulus  and  his  school. 

The  glory  of  the  Lord,  which,  in  the  night  of  his 
birth,  shone  around  the  shepherds,  was  simply  an 
ignis  fatiius,  or  a  meteor,  or  a  lantern  which  was 
flashed  in  their  eyes.  The  miracle  at  Christ's 
baptism  may  be  easily  reduced  to   thunder  and 


THE   FALSE  THEOEIES.  Ill 

lightning,  and  a  sudden  disappearance  of  the 
clouds.  The  tempter  in  the  wilderness  was  a  cun- 
ning Pharisee,  but  was  mistaken  by  the  Evangelists 
for  the  devil,  who  does  not  exist,  except  in  the 
imagination  of  the  superstitious.  The  quieting 
of  the  storm  on  the  lake  might  be  traced  to  a 
happy  accident,  in  connection  with  the  calmness 
and  dignity  of  Jesus.  His  miraculous  cures 
turn  out,  on  closer  examination,  to  be  simply 
deeds  of  philanthropy,  or  of  medical  skill,  or  of  good 
luck.  Thus  the  healing  of  the  blind  was  accom- 
plished through  an  efficacious  powder  applied  to 
the  eye, — a  circumstance  which  was  unnoticed 
by  the  miracle-loving  reporters.  The  coin  for  the 
payment  of  tribute  was  to  be  obtained  by  Peter 
not  in  the  mouth  of  the  fish,  but  by  selling  the 
fisli  in  the  market.  The  changing,  of  water 
into  wine  was  an  innocent  and  benevolent  wedding- 
joke  ;  and  the  delusion  of  the  company,  by  the 
sudden  appearance  of  the  wine  previously  provided 
by  the  disciples,  must  be  charged  on  the  twilight, 
not  upon  Christ.  The  feeding  of  the  five  thousand 
is  easily  explained  by  provisions  which  the  people 
brought  with  them  in  their  pockets;  Jesus  ad- 
vising the  rich  to  share  their  abundance  with  the 
poor.  The  daughter  of  Jairus,  the  youth  of  Xain, 
Lazarus,  and  Jesus  himself,  were  raised,  not  from 
real  death,  but  simply  from  a  trance   or  swoon. 


112  THE  PERSON   OF   CHllIST. 

The  angels  of  the  resurrection  were  nothing  moro 
nor  less  than  the  white  linen  cloths  which  the 
pious  mistook  for  celestial  beings.  And,  finally, 
the  ascension  of  our  Lord  resolves  itself  into  his 
sudden  disappearance  behind  a  cloud  that  acci- 
dentally intervened  between  him  and  his  disciples. 

And  yet  these  very  Evangelists,  who,  accord- 
ing to  this  most  unnatural  "natural  exegesis," 
must  have  been  destitute  of  the  most  ordinary 
talent  of  observation,  and  even  of  commonsense, 
contrived  to  paint  a  character  and  to  write  a  story, 
wliich,  in  sublimity  and  interest,  throws  the  pro- 
ductions of  the  proudest  historians  into  the  shade, 
and  has  exerted  an  irresistible  charm  upon  Chris- 
tendom for  these  eighteen  hundred  years. 

No  wonder  that  those  absurdities  of  a  misguided 
learning  and  ingenuity  hardly  survived  their  author. 
It  is  a  decided  merit  of  Strauss,  that  he,  in  his 
larger  work  on  the  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  has  thoroughly 
and  step  by  step  refuted  the  system  of  his  pre- 
decessor, and  given  it  the  critical  death-blow.  He 
very  properly  says  :  "  If  the  Gospels  are  taken  to 
be  historical  documents,  the  miracle  cannot  be 
expelled  from  them."  Therefore,  to  get  rid  of  it, 
he  denies  their  historical  character  and  apostolic 
origin.  Eenan  too,  in  his  "Essay  on  the  Critical 
Historians  of  Jesus,"  speaks  quite  contemptuously 
of  this  "  very  narrow  exegesis  of  rationalism,"  this 


THE   FALSE   THEORIES.  II3 

*  shabby  method  of  interpretation,"  "an  exegesis 
made  up  of  subtilities,  founded  on  the  mechanical 
use  of  a  few  incidents, — ecstasy,  lightning,  storm, 
cloud,"  &c. ;  and  says  :  "  The  so-called  rationalistic 
interpretation  may  have  satisfied  the  first  bold 
desire  of  the  human  mind  on  its  taking  possession 
of  a  long- forbidden  domain  ;  but  experience  could 
not  "but  disclose  very  soon  the  inexcusable  defects, 
the  dryness,  the  coarseness  of  it.  ISTever  was  better 
realised  the  ingenious  allegory  of  the  daughters  of 
Minos,  who  were  turned  into  bats  for  having 
seriously  criticised  the  vulgar  credences.  There  is 
as  much  simplicity  and  credulity,  and  much  less 
poetry,  in  clumsily  discussing  a  legend  in  its 
details,  as  in  accepting  it,  once  for  all,  as  it 
is."^^ 

So  one  infidel  refutes  the  other,  and  by  the  very 
process  undermines  his  own  system.  Strauss  and 
Eenan  have  fared  no  better  than  Paulus,  who  was 
their  equal  in  learning  and  acumen. 


fef^ 


III. — The  Theory  of  Poetical  FiCTiOTurf^^ 


■^ 


The  least  dishonourable,  and  the  most  plausible, 
of  the  false  theories  of  the  life  of  Christ,  is  the 
hypothesis  of  poetical  fiction.  This  may,  again, 
assume  two  forms, — the  mythical  and  the  legendary. 
The  former  derives  its  support  mainly  from  the 
IS 


^0^5^ 


114  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

formation  of  the  ancient  myths  of  heathen  gods 
and  demigods ;  the  latter,  from  the  mediaeval 
legends  of  Christian  martyrs  and  saints. 

The  one  was  matured  and  carried  out  by  David 
Friederich  Strauss,  with  the  patient  research, 
learning,  and  solidity  of  a  German  scholar;  the 
other,  by  Joseph  Ernest  Eenan,  with  the  bril- 
liancy, elegance,  and  levity  of  a  Parisian  novelist. 
The  one  was  written  for  students,  the  other  for  the 
people ;  the  one  breathes  the  air  of  a  library,  is 
cold  and  heartless,  the  other  arose  under  the  fresh 
impressions  of  travel  in  the  Holy  Land,  as  a  fifth 
Gospel,  broken,  ruined,  yet  legible,  and  is  enlivened 
by  picturesque  sketches ;  the  one  rests  on  the 
philosophical  basis  of  a  speculative  or  logical 
pantheism,  the  other  on  that  of  a  sentimental  or 
poetical  pantheism.  Strauss's  '' Leben  Jesu''  is 
related  to  Eenan's  "  Vie  de  Jesus'*  as  the  heavy 
armour  of  a  mediaeval  knight  to  the  parade  uni- 
form of  a  holiday- soldier,,  as  a  siege-cannon  to 
a  pop-gun,  as  an  iron  statue  to  a  tawdry  wax 
figure;  but  both  start  essentially  from  the  same 
naturalistic  premises,  and  arrive  at  the  same 
conclusions.  They  are  equally  opposed  to  the 
miraculous  and  supernatural  in  the  life  of  our 
Saviour,  and  leave  a  mere  spectral  shadow  of 
the  real  Jesus  of  the  Gospels. 


THE   FALSE   THEORLES.  II5 

(l)   The  Mythical  Hypothesis  of  Strauss. 

Dr.  Strauss  wrote  two  works  on  the  life  of 
Jesus :  a  large  one  for  scholars,  which  appeared 
first  in  1835,  in  two  volumes;  and  a  condensed 
one  of  a  more  popular  character,  in  1864,  in  one 
volume.^^  In  both  he  maintains  the  same  theory, 
with  unimportant  modifications.  The  former  work 
is  the  ablest  and  most  elaborate  attack  upon  the 
gospel  history  ever  made,  and  a  well- arranged  store- 
house of  all  the  older  arguments  of  infidelity. 

Strauss  has  found  an  eloquent  advocate  in  the 
erratic  genius  and  misguided  philanthropist, 
Theodore  Parker,  who  passed  like  a  brilliant 
meteor  over  the  American  skies  to  disappear  in  a 
foreign  land.^^ 

What  Gabler,  Yater,  De  Wette,  and  other 
critics,  had  already  done  with  the  miracles  of  the 
Old  Testament  and  some  portions  of  the  New, 
Strauss  has  fully  matured  and  systematically  car- 
ried out  with  reference  to  the  whole  life  of  Christ. 
He  sinks  the  gospel  history,  as  to  the  mode  of  its 
ci'igin  and  realness,  substantially  on  a  par  with 
the  ancient  mythologies  of  Greece  and  Eome. 

A  myth  is  the  representation  of  a  religious  idea 
or  truth  in  the  form  of  a  fictitious  narrative.^^  In 
this  respect  it  resembles  the  fable  and  the  par- 
able, but  differs  from  both  by  blending  the  idea 
with  the  fact,  without  any  consciousness  of  a 
(iifference  between  them.      The  fable  is  a  fictitious 


Il6  THE.  PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

story,  based  upon  palpable  impossibilities,  —  as 
thinking  and  speaking  animals, — and  invented  for 
the  express  purpose  of  inculcating  some  moral 
maxim  or  lesson  of  prudence ;  the  parable  is  like- 
wise a  fictitious  narrative,  deliberately  produced, 
but  based  upon  possibilities,  and  thus  intrinsically 
truthful,  for  the  purpose  of  illustrating  a  spiritual 
truth;  a  myth  is  unconsciously  produced  with 
the  most  simple  and  unreflecting  faith  in  the 
actual  occurrence  of  the  story.  The  mytho-poetic 
faculty  presupposes  —  and  this,  we  may  remark, 
by  way  of  anticipation,  is  a  telling  argument 
against  the  theory  of  Strauss — a  childlike  age  of 
the  human  race,  an  entire  absence  of  reflection  and 
criticism.  It  works  like  the  imagination  of  chil- 
dren, who  delight  in  stories,  invent  stories,  and 
believe  their  own  stories  without  the  least  mis- 
giving or  doubt,  without  raising  the  question  of 
truth  or  falsehood.  In  this  way  (according  to  the 
theory  of  some  distinguished  classical  scholars 
like  Ottfried  Miiller,  and  Grote)  the  Greek  my- 
thology took  its  rise,  as  the  spontaneous  growth 
of  a  childlike  fancy,  which  peopled  the  air  and 
the  sea,  the  mountains  and  the  groves,  the  trees 
and  the  brooks  with  divinities,  in  the  fullest  belief 
in  their  actual  existence.  So,  also,  much  of  the 
legendary  history  of  mediaeval  Christianity  can  be 
accounted  for  without  impeaching  the  motives  or 
honesty  of  the  narrator,  yet  with  this  difference. 


THE   FALSE   THEOrJES.  11/ 

that  the  legends  of  martyrs  and  saints  have,  in 
most  cases,  some  foundation  in  a  psychological 
state  or  historical  fact.  The  rest  is  either  harm- 
less poetry  of  simple  souls,  or  pious  fraud  of 
designing  monks  and  priests. 

Strauss  does  not  deny  by  any  means  the  his- 
torical existence  of  Jesus.  He  even  admits  him  to 
have  been  a  religious  genius  of  the  first  magnitude. 
But  from  pantheistic  premises,  and  by  a  cold  pro- 
cess of  hypercritical  dissection  of  the  apparently 
contradictory  accounts  of  the  witnesses,  he  resolves 
all  the  supernatural  and  miraculous  elements  of 
Christ's  person  and  history,  from  his  birth  to  the 
resurrection  and  ascension,  into  myths,  or  imagina- 
tive representations  of  religious  ideas  in  the  form 
of  facts,  which  were  honestly  believed  by  the 
authors  to  have  actually  occurred.  The  ideas 
symbolised  in  these  facts,  especially  the  idea  of 
the  essential  unity  of  the  divine  and  human,  are 
declared  to  be  true  in  the  abstract  as  applied  to 
humanity  as  a  whole ;  but  denied  in  the  con- 
crete, or  in  their  application  to  an  individual. 
The  fulness  of  the  infinite  godhead  is  diffused,  as 
it  were,  throughout  the  whole  universe,  but  cannot 
be  shut  up  in  Jesus  of  ITazareth  or  any  single 
person.  The  authorship  of  the  evangelical  myths 
is  ascribed  to  the  primitive  Christian  community, 
pro.gnant     with    Jewish     Messianic    hopes,     and 


Il8  THE   PEESON   OF   CIIHIST. 

kindled  to  hero-worship  by  the  appearance  of  the 
extraordinary  person  of  Jesus  of  ISTazareth,  whom 
they  took  to  be  the  promised  Messiah,  and  adorned 
with  this  innocent  poetry  of  miracles  within  thirty 
or  forty,  years  after  his  death. 

The  theory  may  be  reduced  to  the  following 
syllogism:  There  was  a  fixed  idea  in  the  Jewish 
mind,  nourished  by  the  Old  Testament  writings, 
that  the  Messiah  would  perform  certain  miracles 
— heal  the  sick,  raise  the  dead,  &c. ;  there  was  a 
strong  persuasion  in  the  minds  of  the  disciples  of 
Jesus  that  he  actually  was  the  promised  Messiah; 
therefore  the  mytho-poetic  faculty  instinctively 
invented  the  miracles  corresponding  to  the  Mes- 
sianic conception,  and  ascribed  them  to  him. 

In  the  execution  of  his  task,  Strauss  avails  him- 
self, at  the  same  time,  of  all  the  difficulties  and 
objections  which  the  ingenuity  of  unbelievers  of 
opposite  philosophical  tendencies,  from  Celsus  and 
Porphyry  to  Eeimarus  and  Paulus,  have  urged 
against  the  credibility  of  the  gospel  narrative; 
grouping  them  with  consummate  skill  for  rhetorical 
effect;  presenting  the  most  complex  details  with 
rare  clearness ;  changing  his  mode  of  attack  from 
round  assertion  to  cautious  insinuation  or  sugges- 
tive inquiry,  and  then  massing  his  forces  for  a 
final  assault  upon  the  citadel,  against  which  the 
gates  of  hell  shall  never  prevail. 


THE  FALSE   THEORIES.  IIQ 

Let  US  now  proceed  to  examine  the  general 
features  and  defects  of  this  theory. 

First,  The  philosophic  foundation  on  which  the 
mythical  hypothesis  professedly  rests,  is  the 
alleged  impossibility  of  a  miracle ;  and  this  again 
has  its  root  in  a  pantheistic  denial  of  a  personal 
God  and  an  Almighty  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth. 
But  this  fundamental  principle  is  a  mere  assump- 
tion, which  the  author  never  attempts  to  prove. 
It  is  a  petitio  princvpii,  and  begs  the  very  question 
which  it  was  one  of  his  first  duties  to  discuss. 
Much  as  he  boasted  of  possessing  that  freedom 
from  doctrinal  prepossessions  (dogmatische  Voraus- 
setzungslosiglceit)  as  a  first  prerequisite  for  a  scientific 
biography  of  Jesus,  he  starts  with  a  philosophical 
prejudice,  which  is  fatal  to  historical  impartiality, 
and  sacrifices  facts  to  theory. 

Secondly,  The  critical  foundation  of  the  myth- 
ical theory  is  as  unsafe  as  the  philosophical,  and 
is  one  of  the  weakest  parts  of  the  book  of  Strauss, 
who  was  justly  censured  by  Dr.  Baur  for  attempt- 
ing to  write  a  criticism  of  the  gospel  history  with- 
out a  criticism  of  the  Gospels.  In  order  to  avoid 
the  necessity  of  supposing  that  Christ  and  the 
apostles  were  deceivers  or  self- deceived,  and  to 
allow  a  sufficient  time  for  the  formation  of  myths, 
he  must  bring  down  the  canonical  Gospels  at  least 
a  century  later  than  Christ.      But   at   that   time 


120  THE  PERSON  OF  CIIIIIST. 

they  were  already  acknowledged  as  canonical  writ- 
ings, and  used  in  the  Christian  churches.  Strauss 
has  to  encounter  here  the  overwhelming  mass  of 
patristic  testimonies  in  favour  of  the  apostolic  origin 
of  these  Gospels,  which  are  far  better  supported 
than  any  of  the  classical  writers  of  Greece  or  Eome 
At  one  time,  feeling  the  force  of  the  unanimous 
voice  of  Christian  antiquity,  Strauss  was  disposed 
to  admit  the  authenticity  of  the  Gospel  of  John; 
but  seeing  the  fatal  effect  of  this  concession  upon 
his  conclusions,  he  soon  after  withdrew  it  (in  the 
third  edition  of  his  large  work),  and  Baur  and  the 
whole  Tiibingen  school  came  to  his  aid  in  disput- 
ing the  authorship  of  John,  notwithstanding  the 
additional  external  evidence  in  favour  of  it  which 
has  since  been  brought  to  light  by  the  discovery 
of  the  '' Philosophumena"  of  Hippolitus ;  from 
which  it  appears  that  the  fourth  Gospel  was 
already  used  by  Gnostic  heretics  in  the  early  part 
of  the  second  century.  The  controversy  concern- 
ing the  origin  and  character  of  the  canonical 
Gospels,  into  which  we  cannot  here  enter,  has 
assumed  half-a-dozen  new  phases  since  the  first 
appearance  of  Strauss's  book  in  1835,  and  is  still 
in  an  unsettled  condition.  We  may  never  be  able 
to  determine  the  precise  origin  of  the  Gospels  and 
their  mutual  relations,  but  Christ's  teaching  and 
Christ's  example  remain  an  undoubted  fact,   and 


THE   FALSE   THEORIES.  121 

they  cannot  possibly  be  the  invention  of  illiterate 
fishermen  of  Galilee.  As  to  the  fourth  Gospel,  the 
only  alternative  in  the  present  stage  of  the  con- 
troversy is  truth,  or  fraud.  The  assumption  of  an 
unconscious  mytho-poetical  fiction  is  exploded  by 
the  latter  developments  of  the  Tubingen  critics. 
Strauss  himself  now  admits,  in  this  case,  conscious 
fiction  and  philosophical  construction,  and  thus 
approaches  the  very  border  of  the  infamous  theory 
of  imposture.®^ 

But  suppose  we  give  up  the  four  Gospels :  there 
still  remain  the  Acts  and  the  Epistles  of  the 
New  Testament  to  substantiate  all  the  fundamental 
facts  of  the  life  of  Christ,  especially  the  resurrec- 
tion,— the  great  crowning  and  sealing  miracle  of 
his  work,  without  which  the  Apostolic  Church 
could  never  have  risen  at  all.  Even  Dr.  Baur, 
w^ho  in  bold  negative  and  reconstructive  criticism 
went  further  than  any  sceptic  ever  did,  and  who 
resolved  most  of  the  New-Testament  writings  into 
"  tendency "  books  written  in  the  conscious  in- 
terest of  contending  parties  and  sections  of  the 
post  -  apostolic  age,  ultimately  blended  in  the 
system  of  ancient  Catholicism, — a  theory,  by  the 
way,  which  overthrows  the  unconscious  mytho- 
poetic origin  of  the  Gospels, — leaves  the  Apoca-  . 
lypse  of  St.  John,  and  four  Epistles  of  St.  Paul, 

viz.,  those  to  the  Komans  (excepting  the  last  two 
i6 


122  THE   PERSON   OF   CIIUIST. 

chapters),  the  Corinthians  and  Galatians,  standing 
as  genuine  apostolic  writings.  This  is  enough  for 
our  purpose.  It  may  perhaps  be  imagined  that 
an  illiterate  fisherman  of  Galilee  was  simple  and 
childlike  enough  to  invent  miracles,  and  to  mis- 
take the  creatures  of  his  fancy  for  actual  facts. 
.  But  this  is  a  psychological  impossibility  in  the 
case  of  Paul, — the  learned,  acute,  subtle,  dialectic, 
well-drilled  rabbi  of  the  school  of  Gamaliel,  and 
so  long  the  open  and  bitter  enemy  of  Christianity. 
How  could  he  submit  his  strong  and  clear  mind, 
and  devote  all  the  energies  of  his  noble  life,  which 
made  him  one  of  the  greatest  benefactors  of  man- 
kind, to  a  poetical  fiction,  or  empty  dream  of  the 
very  sect  which  he  fanatically  persecuted  unto  death? 
The  difficulty  presented  here  to  the  infidel  bio- 
graphers of  Jesus  is  absolutely  insurmountable; 
the  mythological  hypothesis  breaks  down  com- 
pletely on  the  rock  of  the  resurrection,  and  the 
conversion  of  Paul  which  is  based  upon  it. 
Strauss  must  admit  that  Paul  and  all  the 
apostles  believed  in  the  resurrection,  and  could 
only  by  this  belief  pass  from  the  despondency 
created  by  the  death  of  Jesus,  to  the  joy  and 
enthusiasm  necessary  to  spread  the  gospel  and 
found  churches  at  the  risk  of  their  lives.  But 
he  cannot  explain  this  astounding  transition, 
which  took  place  already  on  the  third  day.     He 


THE   FALSE  THEOllIES.  1 23 

very  ably  refutes,  as  utterly  untenable,  tlie  natural 
interpretation  of  a  resurrection  from  a  mere  trance, 
followed  after  a  short  period  of  a  sickly  existence 
by  real  death,  which  would  have  effectually  de- 
stroyed again  all  the  hopes  of  the  disciples.  In- 
stead of  this,  he  resorts  to  the  hypothesis  of 
a  purely  subjective  resurrection  of  Christ  in  the 
visionary  faith  of  his  disciples,  including  St.  Paul, 
and  the  more  than  five  hundred  to  whom  he  ap- 
peared at  once  (i  Cor.  15  :  6).  As  if  an  empty 
dream  could  suddenly  turn  desponding  gloom  into 
enthusiastic  joy  and  world-conquering  faith,  and 
this  in  so  many  persons  at  the  same  time,  and 
lay  the  foundation  to  the  indestructible  structure 
of  the  Christian  Church  !  Credat  Judceus  Apella  ! 
It  is  certainly  much  easier  to  believe  that  Christ 
truly  rose  from  the  dead,  than  that  the  Christian 
Church  —  the  greatest  institution  of  history  — 
should  have  arisen  from  a  deception  or  a  lie. 

Here,  if  anywhere,  we  must  bow  before  the  over- 
whelming force  of  a  most  glorious  fact.  Dr.  Baur, 
the  teacher  of  Strauss,  and  his  superior  in  learning 
and  critical  power,  felt  the  difficulty,  and  toward 
the  close  of  his  life  made  the  honest  concession, 
that  the  conversion  of  Paul  was  to  him  a  mystery, 
which  could  only  be  explained  by  "  the  miracle  of 
the  resurrection."  ^^  This  concession  overthrows  the 
whole   mythical    fabric.      Admit  the  resurrection 


124  THE   PERSON   OF   CIIPJST. 

of  Christ,  and  there  can  be  no  difficulty  with  the 
other  miracles. 

A  third  fundamental  error  of  the  mythical  hypo- 
thesis consists  in  a  radical  inversion  of  the  natural 
order  and  relation  of  history  and  poetry,  as  it  exists 
in  any  historical  age  like  that  in  which  Christ 
made  His  appearance  on  earth.  !Fac£s  give  rise 
to  songs,  and  not  vice  versd.  Prophecies,  and 
expectations  too,  may  foreshadow  events,  but  do 
not  create  them.  The  real  object  precedes  the 
picture  of  the  artist ;  the  hero,  the  epic.  Banyan's 
"  Pilgrim's  Progress "  presupposes  the  Christian 
experience  of  which  it  is  a  beautiful  allegory. 
Milton's  "Paradise  Lost"  could  never  have  pro- 
duced the  belief  in  the  fall  of  man,  but  rests  on 
this  belief  and  the  fact  it  describes  with  the 
charm  and  splendour  of  sanctified  genius.  All 
the  great  revolutions  in  the  world  have  been 
effected,  not  by  fictitious  personages,  but  by  real 
living  men  whose  power  corresponded  to  their 
influence.  So  the  American  and  French  Eevolu- 
tions  in  the  eighteenth,  the  Puritan  Eevolution  in 
the  seventeenth,  the  Protestant  Ee formation  in  the 
sixteenth  century;  the  founding  of  modern,  mediae- 
val, and  ancient  empires ;  the  inventions  of  arts,  and 
the  discoveries  of  new  countries, — can  all  be  traced 
to  strictly  historical  and  well-defined  persons  as 
originators  or  leaders.  Why  should  Christianity, 
which  produced  ^lie  greatest  of  all   moral  revolu- 


THE   FALSE   TIIEOEIES.  125 

tions  of  the  race,  form  an  exception  ?  Ideas,  with- 
out living  men  to  represent  and  explain  them,  are 
shadows  and  abstractions.  The  pantheistic  philo- 
sophy on  which  the  criticism  of  Strauss  and  Eenan 
is  based,  by  denying  the  personality  of  God,  destroys 
also  the  proper  significance  of  the  personality  of  man, 
and  inevitably  ends  in  denying  the  immortality  of 
the  soul. 

In  the  case  before  us,  the  difficulty  is  greatly 
increased  by  making,  not  one  great  towering 
genius,  as  Homer,  but  an  illiterate  and  compara- 
tively ignorant  multitude,  responsible  for  the 
gospel  poem,  which  in  purity  and  sublimity  rises 
infinitely  above  all  ancient  mythologies.  Strauss 
assumes  that  a  Messianic  community  in  some  terra 
incognita,  probably  in  the  midst  of  Palestine, 
independent  of  the  apostles,  about  thirty  or  forty 
years  after  the  death  of  Christ,  produced  the 
gospel  history.  But  this  is  a  mere  fiction  of  his 
brain.  At  that  time,  Christianity  was  already 
planted  all  over  the  Eoman  Empire,  as  is  evident 
from  the  Epistles  of  Paul  as  well  as  from  the 
Acts ;  and  all  these  congregations  stood  under  the 
guidance  of  apostles  and  apostolic  men  who  were 
eyewitnesses  of  the  events  of  Christ,  and  con- 
trolled the  whole  Christian  tradition.  The  Gospels, 
moreover,  with  the  exception  of  that  of  Matthew, 
bear   not   the   Jewish,  but   the   Gentile-Christian 


126  THE   PERSON   OF   ClIPJST. 

stamp,  and  were  written  outside  of  Palestine,  on 
Greek  and  Eoman  soil;  wliicli  shows  that  the 
same  traditions  were  spread  all  over  the  empire, 
and  form  a  part  of  the  original  Christianity  of  the 
apostles  themselves.  The  mythological  hypothesis 
breaks  down  half-way,  and  is  forced  to  make  the 
apostles  responsible  for  the  story;  that  is,  to 
charge  them  with  downright  fraud.  If  Christ  did 
not  actually  perform  miracles,  they  must  have 
been  invented  by  the  primitive  disciples,  the 
apostles,  and  evangelists,  to  account  at  all  for 
their  rapid  and  universal  spread  and  acceptance 
among  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christians  from  Jeru- 
salem to  Eome. 

But  admitting  such  a  consolidated,  central,  and  yet 
independent  mytho-poetic  community  of  the  second 
generation  of  Christians,  how  could  this  Messianic 
congregation  itself  originate  without  a  Messiah  ? 
How  could  the  disciples  believe  in  Jesus,  without 
the  indispensable  signs  of  the  Messiahship  ?  If 
the  early  Christians  produced  Christ,  who  produced 
the  early  Christians  ?  Whence  did  they  derive 
their  high  spiritual  ideal  ?  Were  not  the  Messianic 
expectations  of  the  Jews  at  the  time  sectional, 
political,  and  carnal, — the  very  reverse  of  those 
encouraged  by  Christ?  Who  ever  heard  of  a 
poem  unconsciously  produced  by  a  mixed  mul- 
titude, and  honestly  mistaken  by  them  aU  for 


THE   FALSE   TEIEOKIES.  12/ 

actual  history  ?  How  could  the  five  hundred 
persons,  to  whom  the  risen  Saviour  is  said  to  have 
appeared  (i  Cor.  15:6),  dream  the  same  dream  at 
the  same  time,  and  then  believe  it  as  a  veritable 
fact,  at  the  risk  of  their  lives  ?  How  could  such 
an  illusion  stand  the  combined  hostility  of  the 
Jewish  and  Heathen  world,  and  the  searching 
criticism  of  an  age,  not  of  childlike  simplicity,  but 
of  high  civilisation,  of  critical  reflection, — even  of 
incredulity  and  scepticism  ?  How  strange,  that  un- 
lettered and  unskilled  fishermen,  or  rather  their 
obscure  friends  and  pupils,  and  not  the  philosophers 
and  poets  of  classic  Greece  and  Eome,  should  have 
composed  such  a  grand  poem,  and  painted  a  char- 
acter to  whom  Strauss  himself  is  forced  to  assign 
the  very  first  rank  among  all  the  religious  geniuses 
and  founders  of  religion !  And  would  they  not 
rather  have  given  us  at  best  an  improved  picture 
of  such  a  rabbi  as  Hillel  or  Gamaliel,  or  of  a 
prophet  like  Elijah  or  John  the  Baptist,  instead  of 
a  universal  reformer  who  rises  above  all  the  limi- 
tations of  nation  or  sect  ? 

The  poets  must  in  this  case  have  been  superior 
to  the  hero.  St.  John  must  have  surpassed  Jesus, 
whom  he  represented  as  the  incarnate  God.^^  And 
yet  the  hero  is  admitted  by  the  sceptics  them- 
selves to  be  the  purest  and  greatest  man  that  ever 
lived ! 


128  THE   PErtSON   OF   CHRIST. 

But  where  are  the  traces  of  a  fervid  imagination 
and  mytho-poetic  art  in  the  gospel  history  ?  Is 
it  not,  on  the  contrary,  remarkably  free  from 
all  rhetorical  and  poetical  ornament,  from  every 
admixture  of  subjective  notions  and  feelings,  even 
from  the  expression  of  sympathy,  admiration,  and 
praise  ?  The  writers  evidently  felt  that  the  story 
speaks  best  for  itself,  and  could  not  be  improved 
by  the  art  and  skill  of  man.  Their  discrepancies, 
which  at  best  do  not  affect  the  picture  of  Christ's 
character  in  the  least,  but  only  the  subordinate 
details  of  his  history,  prove  the  absence  of  collu- 
sion, attest  the  honesty  of  their  intentions,  and 
confirm  the  general  credibility  of  their  accounts. 
The  Gospels  have  the  character  of  originality  and 
freshness  stamped  upon  every  page :  they  breathe 
the  very  presence  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  this  con- 
stitutes their  irresistible  charm  to  every  unso- 
phisticated reader.  It  is  the  history  itself  which 
speaks  to  us  face  to  face,  without  intervening 
reflections  and  subjective  notions.  The  few  oc- 
casional references  to  geography,  archaeology,  and 
secular  history,  only  confirm  their  general  credi- 
bility. How  different  in  all  these  respects  the 
apocryphal  Gospels !  They  are  flat,  puerile, 
insipid,  the  absurd  productions  of  a  diseased  reli- 
gious imagination.  Here,  indeed,  we  might  speak 
of  mythical  or  legendary  fiction,  or  of  downright 


THE  FALSE  THEORIES.  1 29 

imposition  and  pious  fraud.  But  this  very  contrast 
proves  the  truth  of  the  original  history,  as  the  coun- 
terfeit implies  the  existence  of  the  genuine  coin.^ 

The  mere  fact  of  the  Christian  Church,  with  its 
unbroken  history  of  eighteen  hundred  years,  is 
an  overwhelming  evidence  of  the  Christ  of  the 
Gospels ;  and  the  institution  of  Christian  baptism 
and  the  holy  communion  testify  every  day,  all  over 
the  world,  to  the  two  fundamental  doctrines  of  the 
holy  Trinity,  and  of  the  atonement  by  the  sacrifice 
on  the  cross. 

Strauss  would  make  us  believe  in  a  stream  with- 
out a  fountain,  in  a  house  without  a  foundation, 
in  an  effect  without  a  cause ;  for  the  facts  which 
he  and  Eenan  leave  untouched  are  not  sufficient 
to  account  for  the  extraordinary  and  continued 
results. 

The  same  negative  criticism  which  Strauss 
applied  to  the  Evangelists,  would,  with  equal 
plausibility,  destroy  the  strongest  chain  of  evidence 
before  a  court  of  justice,  and  resolve  the  life  of 
Socrates  or  Charlemagne  or  Luther  or  Napoleon 
into  a  mythical  dream.^^ 

The  secret  spring  of  this  hypercriticism  is  the 
pantheistic  or  atheistic  denial  of  a  personal,  living 
God,  which  consistently  and  professedly  ends  with 
the  denial  of  personal  immortality ;  for  the  relative 
personality  of  man  depends  upon  the  self-conscious, 
17 


130  THE  PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

self- existent,  absolute  personality  of  God.  In  its 
details,  the  mythical  hypothesis  is  so  complicated 
and  artificial,  that  it  cannot  be  consistently  car- 
ried out.  It  continually  crosses  the  boundary-line 
which  divides  the  mythical  from  the  mendacious ; 
and  at  the  most  critical  points,  as  in  the  origin  of 
the  fourth  Gospel  and  the  miracle  of  the  resurrec- 
tion, it  is  driven  to  the  alternative  of  admitting 
the  truth,  or  relapsing  to  the  vulgar  and  disreput- 
able hypothesis  of  intentional  fraud,  from  which  it 
professed,  at  the  start,  to  shrink  back  with  horror 
and  contempt. 

(2.)  The  Legendary  Hyjpothesis  of  Eenan, 
Eenan  has  eclipsed  all  former  infidel  biogra- 
phers of  Christ,  so  far  as  popularity  and  ephemeral 
effect  is  concerned.  His  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  which 
first  appeared  in  1863,  has  had  all  the  success 
of  a  sensation  novel,  and  will  share  the  same 
fate.^®  In  disposing  of  it,  we  can  be  much 
briefer,  since  a  refutation  of  Strauss  is  also  a 
refutation  of  Eenan. 

He  essentially  agrees  with  Strauss,  to  whom  he 
expressly  refers  as  his  main  authority  for  critical 
research ;  but  he  has  a  better  appreciation  of  the 
realness  and  environments  of  the  gospel  history. 
He  correctly  remarks  that  the  term  myths  is 
better   applicable   to  India  and  primitive  Greece 


THE   FALSE  THEORIES.  I3I 

than  to  the  ancient  traditions  of  the  Hebrews  and 
the  Semitic  nations  in  general  He  prefers  the 
words  legends  and  legendary  narratives,  ''which, 
while  they  concede  a  large  influence  to  the  work- 
ing of  opinions,  allow  the  action  and  the  personal 
character  of  Jesus  to  stand  out  in  their  complete- 
ness." ^^  A  myth  is  purely  imaginative  ;  a  legend 
has  a  nucleus  of  fact.  As  Strauss  expresses  the 
difference :  "  Myth  is  the  creation  of  fact  out  of 
an  idea;  legend  is  the  seeing  an  idea  in  a  fact." 
This  brings  the  gospel  history  down  to  a  level 
with  the  history  of  Francis  of  Assissi,  and  other 
marvellous  saints  of  the  Eoman  Church ;  although 
Eenan,  inconsistently  enough,  prefers  a  parallel 
between  the  myth  of  his  favourite  Cakya-Mouni, 
the  founder  of  Buddhism,  and  the  legend  of  Jesus, 
and  thus  falls  back  again  to  the  mythical  theory .^^ 
He  regards  the  so-called  legend  of  Jesus  as  the 
fruit  of  the  consentaneous  enthusiasm  and  imagi- 
native impulse  of  the  primitive  disciples.  ISTo  great 
event  in  history  has  passed  without  a  cycle  of 
fables ;  and  Jesus  could  not,  had  he  wished,  have 
silenced  these  popular  creations.^^ 

Eenan,  moreover^  differs  from  Strauss  by  ad- 
mitting the  essential  authenticity  of  the  chief 
portions  of  the  four  Gospels,  including  even  the 
most  contested  of  all,  that  of  John, — a  concession 
almost   as   fatal   to   his   own  as   to   the  mythical 


132  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

theory,  and  hence  pronounced  by  Strauss  the  one 
essential  error  of  Eenan.  He  consequently  allows 
a  larger  body  of  facts  in  the  life  of  Christ.  He 
undertakes,  to  some  extent,  the  task  of  reconstruc- 
tion, and  proposes  to  clothe  the  cloudy  phantom 
and  dim  shadow  of  the  mythical  Jesus  with  real 
flesh  and  blood.  In  his  essay  on  the  "  Critical 
Historians  of  Jesus,"  he  quotes  with  approbation 
the  objection  of  Colani  to  Strauss :  "  No  doubt 
the  apostles,  once  believing  in  the  Messianic 
character  of  Jesus,  may  have  added  to  his  actual 
image  some  lineaments  borrowed  from  prophecy; 
but  how  came  they  to  believe  in  his  Messianic 
character  ?  Strauss  has  never  explained  this. 
What  he  leaves  of  the  Gospels  is  insufficient  as 
ground  for  the  apostles'  faith ;  and  it  is  useless  to 
ascribe  to  them  a  disposition  to  be  content  with 
the  miniraum  of  proof ;  the  proofs  must  needs  have 
been  very  strong  to  overcome  the  crushing  doubts 
occasioned  by  the  death  on  the  cross.  In  other 
words,  the  person  of  Jesus  must  have  singularly 
surpassed  ordinary  proportions  ;  a  large  part  of  the 
evangelical  narratives  must  be  true."  ^^ 

Eenan's  "  Life  of  Jesus "  is  interspersed  with 
truly  eloquent  and  enthusiastic  tributes  to  Jesus, — 
concessions  which  must  either  overthrow  his  whole 
legendary  hypothesis,  or  else  resolve  themselves 
into  empty  declamation.      So  far,  we  may  regard 


THE  FALSE  THEORIES.  133 

the  rrench  child  as  an  improvement  on  its  German 
parent,  and  a  progress  in  the  sceptical  world  to- 
wards the  acknowledgment  of  the  truth. 

But  while  Eenan,  aided  by  a  lively  French 
imagination,  and  a  fresh  contemplation  of  the 
Holy  Land,  which  he  calls  the  "Fifth  Gospel," 
surpasses  Strauss  in  the  estimate  of  the  historical 
character  of  the  gospel-record,  he  is  equally  hostile 
to  miracles,  which,  in  his  oracular  opinion,  "  al- 
ways imply  imposture  or  fraud;''  and  falls  far 
below  him  on  the  score  of  scholarship,  consistency, 
and  even  morality.  We  mean,  of  course,  the 
morality  of  his  theory,  and  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  morality  of  his  private  character,  which 
may  be  without  reproach.  Compared  with  this 
critical  master,  Eenan  is  a  mere  dilettante  and  a 
charlatan.  He  nowhere  makes  a  serious  attempt 
to  prove  any  of  his  novel  and  arbitrary  positions, 
refers  for  detail,  once  for  all,  to  Strauss  and  half- 
a-dozen  inferior  infidel  books,  ignores  their  refuta- 
tion, and  deals  in  oracular  assertions  and  elo- 
quent declamations  for  artistic  effect.  His  book 
nowhere  rises  to  the  dignity  of  solid  science 
and  scholarship.  It  is  essentially  a  religious  novel 
with  Jesus  as  the  hero,  adapted  to  the  taste  of 
the  fashionable  world.^^ 

According  to  Eenan,  Jesus  was  born  at  ^"azareth 
(not  at  Bethlehem),  but  assumed  the  title  of  Son 


134  THE   PEKSON    OF   CHRIST. 

of  David  as  a  necessary  condition  of  success.  He 
grew  Tip  amidst  the  charming  scenery  of  Galilee, 
an  ignorant  peasant  of  extraordinary  genius  and 
spotless  virtue.  He  was  a  delicious  Eabbi  {Rabbi 
delicieicx),  of  ravishing  beauty,  a  preacher  of  the 
purest  code  of  morals,  and  a  healer  of  many  dis- 
eases of  body  and  mind.  But  finding  at  last  that 
he  had  either  to  satisfy  the  foolish  Messianic  ex- 
pectations of  his  people,  or  to  renounce  his  mission, 
he  yielded  to  his  friends,  and  entered  on  a  course 
of  mild  and  beneficent  deception.  By  a  sudden 
and  unaccountable  transformation  of  character,  this 
greatest  man  born  of  woman  became  a  disappointed 
and  morbid  fanatic,  a  thaumaturgist,  and  a  char- 
latan; he  connived  even  at  downright  imposture 
and  falsehood  in  the  so-called  resurrection  of 
Lazarus,  and  paid  for  his  error  with  his  blood.^* 
His  life  was  at  first  a  delightful  pastoral  and 
lovely  idyl,  at  last  a  terrible  tragedy,  and  ends  for 
the  historian  with  his  expiring  sigh  on  the  cross. 
But  so  deep  w^as  the  impression  which  this  sublime 
though  deluded  genius  made,  that  he  arose  in  the 
belief  of  his  ignorant  and  credulous  disciples. 
Thus  the  death  of  the  man  Jesus  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  worship  of  the  incarnate  God.  The 
exact  truth  about  the  resurrection,  Eenan  thinks, 
"on  account  of  the  contradictory  documents,"  we 
shall  never  know,  except  that  "  the  strong  imagina- 


THE  FALSE  THEORIES.  1 35 

tion  of  Mary  Magdalene  here  enacted  a  chief 
part."  "  Divine  power  of  love  ! "  adds  the  enthusi- 
astic declaimer,  "sacred  moments,  when  the  pas- 
sion of  a  halhicinated  woman  gave  to  the  world  a 
risen  God  !"'^ 

And  what  a  God! — snch  a  God  as  only  a 
heathen  idolater,  or  a  polluted  fancy,  or  a  crazy 
intellect  could  worship ;  a  Jesus  who  is  idolised 
on  the  one  hand  as  the  perfect  man,  "  whose  legend 
will  call  forth  tears  without  end,  whose  worship 
will  grow  young  without  ceasing ;"  and  who  almost 
in  the  same  breath  is  charged  with  vanity,  self- 
delusion,  erotic  sentimentalism,  fanaticism,  and 
complicity  with  fraud  !  We  can  hardly  trust  our 
eyes  when  we  see  this  great  Orientalist  digging 
from  the  grave  of  disgrace  and  contempt  the  ex- 
ploded hypothesis  of  vulgar  imposture,  as  if  it 
were  the  last  conclusion  of  science,  and  when  we 
read  the  suggestion  that  the  resurrection  of  Lazarus 
was  a  pious  fraud,  contrived  by  himself  and  his 
two  sisters,  and  weakly  connived  at  by  Jesus,  in 
the  hope  of  producing  an  impression  among  the 
unbelieving  Jews.  But  this  wretched  opinion  is, 
if  possible,  eclipsed  by  an  entirely  original  inven- 
tion of  which  neither  Eeimarus  nor  Paulus  nor 
Strauss  nor  Celsus  ever  dreamed.  Eenan  is  not 
ashamed  to  outrage  the  feelings  of  Christendom, 
by  polluting  even  the  sacred  a^ony  in  Gethsemane 


136  THE  PERSON  OF   CHRIST. 

with  the  sensuous  picture  of  a  Parisian  love-novel. ^^ 
May  God  forgive  this  blasphemy  of  the  Son  of 
Man !  Much  rather  give  up,  with  Strauss,  the 
whole  scene  in  the  garden  as  unhistorical,  than 
thus  insult  the  suffering  Eedeemer,  while  bear- 
ing in  boundless  love  the  accumulated  guilt  of 
the  whole  race. 

Eenan's  Jesus  is  the  most  contradictory  and 
impossible  character  ever  conceived.  There  are 
many  happy  and  unhappy  inconsistencies  in  the 
world,  and  even  great  and  good  men  sometimes 
combine  conflicting  traits  of  character.  But  there 
is  a  great  difference  between  inconsistencies  and 
contradictions ;  and  not  until  all  the  laws  of  logia 
and  psychology  are  overthrown,  not  until  fire  and 
water  dwell  together  in  peace,  will  sensible  people 
believe  that  one  and  the  same  person  can  be  a 
sentimentalist,  an  enthusiast,  a  fanatic,  an  im- 
postor, a  wise  and  charming  rabbi,  an  unequalled 
saint,  and  an  incarnate  God.  The  Christ  of  the 
Gospels  requires  faith;  the  Jesus  of  Kenan,  the 
utmost  stretch  of  credulity.  The  Christ  of  history 
is  a  moral  miracle ;  the  Christ  of  romance,  a  moral 
nwnstrosity.  Eenan  exposes  himself  to  the  com- 
bined force  of  the  objections  which  have  been 
urged  against  all  the  false  theories  of  the  gospel 
history.  His  self-contradictory  picture  of  Jesus, 
divested  of  the  meretricious  charms  of  a  brilliant 


THE  FALSE  THEORIES.  1 37 

style  and  sentimental  hero-worship,  is  an  insult  to 
sound  sense  and  the  dignity  of  man.  It  rouses  the 
noblest  instincts  of  our  nature  to  just  indignation. 
To  state  it  in  its  nakedness  is  to  refute  and  to 
condemn  it.  Even  as  an  artist  he  has  failed  in 
the  main  figure,  since  his  hero  lacks  the  essential 
quality  of  truthfulness  of  conception,  unity,  and  con- 
sistency of  character.  This  defect  arises  not  from 
any  want  of  artistic  power  of  the  author,  which  he 
possesses  in  an  eminent  degree,  but  from  a  sort  of 
inevitable  judgment  which  must  overtake  every 
one  who  dares,  with  unclean  hands,  to  draw  the 
picture  of  the  purest  of  the  pure  and  the  holiest 
of  the  holy.^^ 


18 


(    138    ) 


CONCLUSION. 

''NEBIOULA  est;  traiisibit;' — "It  is  a  little  cloud; 
it  will  pass  away."  This  was  said  by  Athanasius 
of  Julian  the  Apostate,  who,  after  a  short  reign 
of  active  hostility  to  Christianity,  perished  with 
a  confession  of  utter  failure.^^  The  same  may 
be  applied  to  all  the  recent  attempts  to  under- 
mine the  faith  of  humanity  in  the  person  of  its 
divine  Lord  and  Saviour.  The  clouds,  great  and 
small,  pass  away ;  the  sun  continues  to  shine : 
darkness  has  its  hour;  the  light  is  eternal.  IN'o 
argument  against  the  existence  or  attack  upon  the 
character  of  the  sun  will  drive  the  king  of  day 
from  the  sky,  or  prevent  him  from  blessing  the 
earth.  And  the  eye  of  man,  with  its  sun-like 
nature,  will  ever  turn  to  the  sun,  and  drink  the 
rays  of  light  as  they  emanate  from  the  face  of 
Jesus,  the  "  Light  of  the  World."  "  God,  who  com- 
manded the  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,  hath 
shined  in  our  hearts  to  give  the  light  of  the  know- 
ledge of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ "  (2  Cor.  4:4). 


CONCLUSION.  139 

With  its  last  and  ablest  efforts,  infidelity  seems 
to  have  exhausted  its  scientific  resources.  It  could 
only  repeat  itself  hereafter.  Its  different  theories 
have  been  tried,  and  found  vranting.  One  has  in 
turn  refuted  and  superseded  the  other,  even  during 
the  lifetime  of  their  champions.  They  explain 
nothing  in  the  end :  on  the  contrary,  they  only 
substitute  an  unnatural  prodigy  for  a  supernatural 
miracle,  an  inextricable  enigma  for  a  revealed 
mystery.  They  equally  tend  to  undermine  aU 
faith  in  God's  providence,  in  history,  and  ultimately 
in  every  principle  of  truth  and  virtue ;  and  they 
deprive  a  poor  and  fallen  humanity,  in  a  world  of 
sin,  tem23tation,  and  sorrow,  of  its  only  hope  and 
comfort  in  life  and  in  death. 

Dr.  Strauss,  the  most  learned  of  the  infidel  bio- 
graphers of  Jesus,  seems  to  have  had  a  passing 
feeling  of  the  disastrous  tendency  of  his  work  of 
destruction,  and  the  awful  responsibility  he  assumed. 
"  The  results  of  our  inquiry,"  he  says  in  the  closing 
chapter  of  his  large  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  "  have  appa- 
rently annihilated  the  greatest  and  most  important 
part  of  that  which  the  Christian  has  been  wont  to 
believe  concerning  his  Jesus;  have  uprooted  all 
the  encouragements  which  he  has  derived  from  his 
faith,  and  deprived  him  of  all  his  consolations. 
The  boundless  stores  of  truth  and  life  which  for 
eighteen  hundred  years  have  b^en  the  aliment  of 


140  THE  PERSON  OF   CHRIST. 

humanity  seem  irretrievably  devastated,  the  most 
sublime  levelled  with  the  dust,  God  divested  of  his 
grace,  man  of  his  dignity,  and  the  tie  between 
heaven  and  earth  broken.  Piety  turns  away  with 
horror  from  so  fearful  an  act  of  desecration,  and, 
strong  in  the  impregnable  self- evidence  of  its  faith, 
boldly  pronounces  that — let  an  audacious  criticism 
attempt  what  it  will — all  that  the  Scriptures  declare 
and  the  Church  believes  of  Christ  will  still  subsist 
as  eternal  truth;  nor  need  one  iota  of  it  be  re- 
nounced."^^ Strauss  makes  then  an  attempt,  it  is 
true,  at  a  philosophical  reconstruction  of  what  he 
vainly  imagines  to  have  annihilated  as  an  historical 
fact  by  his  sophistical  criticism.  He  professes  to 
admit  the  abstract  truth  of  the  orthodox  Christology, 
or  the  union  of  the  divine  and  human,  but  perverts 
it  into  a  purely  intellectual  and  pantheistic  mean- 
ing. He  refuses  divine  attributes  and  honours  to 
the  glorious  Head  of  the  race,  but  applies  them  to 
a  decapitated  humanity.  He  thus  substitutes,  from 
pantheistic  prejudice,  a  metaphysical  abstraction  for 
a  living  reality;  a  mere  notion  for  an  historical 
fact ;  a  progress  in  philosophy  and  mechanical  arts 
for  the  moral  victory  over  sin  and  death ;  a  pan- 
theistic hero-worship,  or  self-adoration  of  a  fallen 
race,  for  the  worship  of  the  only  true  and  living 
God ;  the  gift  of  a  stone  for  the  nourishing  bread ; 


CONCLUSION.  141 

a  gospel  of  despair  and  final  annihilation  for  the 
gospel  of  hope  and  eternal  life.-^^^ 

Humanity  scorns  snch  a  miserable  substitute, 
which  has  yet  to  give  the  first  proof  of  any  power 
for  good,  and  which  is  not  likely  ever  to  convert 
or  improve  a  single  individual.  Humanity  must 
have  a  living  Head,  a  real  Lord,  and  Saviour  from 
sin  and  death.  With  renewed  faith  and  stronger 
confidence,  it  will  return  from  the  dreary  desola- 
tions of  a  heartless  infidelity,  and  the  vain  conceits 
of  a  philosophy  falsely  so  called,  to  the  historical 
Christ,  the  promised  Messiah,  the  God  incarnate, 
and  will  exclaim  with  Peter :  "  Lord,  where  shall 
we  go  but  to  thee  ?  Thou  alone  hast  the  words  of 
eternal  life,  and  we  believe  and  are  sure  that  thou 
art  the  Son  of  God!" 

Yes  1  He  still  lives,  the  divine  Man  and  incar- 
nate God,  on  the  ever-fresh  and  self- authenticating 
records  of  the  Gospels,  in  the  unbroken  history  of 
eighteen  centuries,  and  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of 
the  wisest  and  best  of  our  race ;  and  there  he  will 
live  for  ever.  His  person  and  work  are  the  book 
of  life,  which  will  never  grow  old.  Christianity 
lives  and  wiU  continue  to  live  with  him,  because 
he  lives,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for 
ever. 

Jesus  Christ  is  the  most  sacred,  the  most  glo- 
rious, the  most  certain   of  all  facts;    arrayed  in 


142  THE  PERSON   OF  CHRIST. 

a  beauty  and  majesty  which  throws  the  "  starry 
heavens  above  ns  and  the  moral  law  within  us" 
into  obscurity,  and  fills  us  truly  with  ever-growing 
reverence  and  awe.  He  shines  forth  with  the  self- 
evidencing  light  of  the  noonday  sun.  He  is  too 
great,  too  pure,  too  perfect,  to  have  been  invented 
by  any  sinful  and  erring  man.  His  character  and 
claims  are  confirmed  by  the  sublimest  doctrine, 
the  purest  ethics,  the  mightiest  miracles,  the 
grandest  spiritual  kingdom,  and  are  daily  and 
hourly  exhibited  in  the  virtues  and  graces  of  all 
who  yield  to  the  regenerating  and  sanctifying 
power  of  his  spirit  and  example.  The  historical 
Christ  meets  and  satisfies  all  moral  and  religious 
aspirations.  The  soul,  if  left  to  its  noblest  im- 
pulses and  aspirations,  instinctively  turns  to  him, 
as  the  needle  to  the  magnet,  as  the  flower  to  the 
sun,  as  the  panting  hart  to  the  fresh  fountain. 
We  are  made  for  him,  and  "  our  heart  is  without 
rest  until  it  rests  in  him."  He  commands  our 
assent,  he  wins  our  affections  and  adoration.  We 
cannot  look  upon  him  without  spiritual  benefit. 
We  cannot  think  of  him  without  being  elevated 
above  all  that  is  low  and  mean,  and  encouraged 
to  all  that  is  good  and  noble.  The  very  hem  of 
his  garment  is  healing  to  the  touch.  One  hour 
spent  in  his   communion  outweighs  all  the  plea- 


CONCLUSION.  143 

siires  of  sin.  He  is  the  most  precious  gift  of  a 
merciful  God  to  a  fallen  world.  In  him  are  the 
treasures  of  wisdom,  in  him  the  fountain  of  pardon 
and  peace,  in  him  the  only  hope  and  com.fort  in 
this  world  and  that  which  is  to  come.  Mankind 
could  better  afford  to  lose  the  literature  of  Greece 
and  Eome,  of  Germany  and  France,  of  England 
and  America,  than  the  story  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 
Without  him,  history  is  a  dreary  waste,  a  labyrinth 
of  facts  without  meaning,  connection,  and  aim: 
with  him,  it  is  a  beautiful,  harmonious  revelation 
of  God,  the  unfolding  of  a  plan  of  infinite  wisdom 
and  love ;  all  ancient  history  converges  to  his 
coming,  all  modern  history  receives  from  him  its 
higher  life  and  inspiration.  He  is  the  glory  of  the 
past,  the  life  of  the  present,  the  hope  of  the  future. 
We  cannot  even  understand  ourselves  without 
him.  According  to  an  old  Jewish  proverb  :  "  The 
secret  of  man  is  the  secret  of  the  Messiah." 
Christ  is  the  great  central  Light  of  history,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  the  Light  of  every  soul :  he  alone 
can  solve  the  mystery  of  our  being,  and  fulfil  our 
intellectual  desires  after  truth,  our  moral  aspira- 
tions after  goodness  and  holiness,  and  the  longing 
of  our  feelings  after  peace  and  happiness. 

Not  for   all   the   wealth  and   wisdom   of   this 
world  would  I  weaken  the  faith  of  the  humblest 


144  THE   PEKSON   OF  CHRIST. 

Christian  in  liis  divine  Lord  and  Saviour ;  but  if, 
by  the  grace  of  God,  I  could  convert  a  single 
sceptic  to  a  child-like  faith  in  him  who  lived  and 
died  for  me  and  for  all,  I  would  feel  that  I  had 
not  lived  in  vain. 


(     145    ) 


'^'T^. 


CRITICAL  NOTES. 


LITERATURE. 

The  literature  on  the  Life  and  Character  of  our  Lord  has 
received  innumerable  additions  during  the  last  fifty  years 
in  Germany,  France,  Holland,  England,  and  America.  This 
increase  is  due  in  part  to  the  attacks  of  Strauss  and  Renan, 
and  is  a  healthy  sign  of  growing  interest  in  the  Christ- 
question  as  the  central  question  of  theology  and  religion.  We 
omit  the  many  Lives  of  Christ  from  those  of  Neander  and 
Lange  to  those  of  Farrar  and  Geikie  (some  of  which  had 
an  unprecedented  sale),  and  confine  ourselves  here  to  a  list  of 
special  treatises  on  the  moral  character  of  Christ  as  a  man, 
which  pursue  a  similar  line  of  argument  as  the  present  work  ; 
namely,  to  lead  the  doubter  from  the  contemplation  of  his  per- 
fect humanity  to  the  recognition  of  his  divinity. 

Dr.  Carl  Ullmann  (formerly  Professor  of  Church  Hi&tory 
in  Heidelberg,  died  Jan.  1865)  : — Die  Sundlosigkeit  Jesu, 
Eine  apologetische  Betrachtung,  {The  Sinlessness  of  Jesus  : 
An  Evidence  of  Christianity.)  First  published  as  an  article 
in  the  German  Theological  Quarterly  Review,  Studien  mid 
Kritiken,  for  182S,  No.  i  ;  then  as  a  separate  book,  6th 
edition,  Heidelberg,  1853  ;  7th  edition,  partly  rewritten,  1863. 
English  translation  from  the  6th  edition  by  LUNDIN  Brown, 
Edinburgh,  1858.  This  important  work  broke  the  path  in 
this  line  of  argument,  and  is  still  the  best  on  the  subject. 
The  references  are  partly  to  the  6th,  partly  to  the  7th,  German 
edition. 

Dr.  James  Waddell  Alexander  (of  New  York,  died 
1859) ; — TJie  Clmracter  of  Jesus:  An  Argument  for  the  Divine 

19 


146  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

Origin  of  Christianity.  Published  in  the  Lectures  on  tJie 
Evidences  of  Christianity  delivered  at  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia.     New  York,  1852.     pp.  193-21 1. 

John  Young:— TAe  Christ  of  History:  An  Argument 
grounded  in  the  Facts  of  his  Life  on  Earth.  London  and 
New  York,  1858. 

Dr.  Horace  Bushnell  (of  Hartford,  died  1876)  -.—The 
Character  of  Jesus  forbidding  His  Classification  with  Men. 
New  York,  1861.  A  tract  of  rare  ability  and  force,  originally 
the  tenth  and  by  far  the  most  important  chapter  of  his  work, 
Nature  and  the  Supernatural^  as  together  constituting  the  one 
System  of  God.     New  York,  1 858.     pp.  276-299. 

Dr.  Philip  Schaff  -.—The  Moral  Character  of  Christ :  The 
Perfection  of  his  Humanity  a  Proof  of  his  Divinity.  Mercers- 
burg,  Pa.,  1861.  This  tract  was  first  delivered  as  an  address 
before  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover,  Mass.,  and  is  the 
gei-m  of  the  present  work,  Avhich  was  published  in  several  edi- 
tions in  America  and  translated  into  several  languages.  It  is 
now  reissued  after  a  final  revision  (1880). 

Peter  Bayne  (M.A.,  of  Scotland)  -.—The  Testimony  of 
Christ  to  Christianity.     Republished  in  Boston,  1862. 

Dr.  Isaac  DOrner  (Professor  of  Theology  at  Berlin)  -.—On 
the  Sinless  Perfection  of  Jesus  ( Ueher  Jesu  silndlose  Vollkom- 
menheit),  in  the  Annals  of  German  Theology.  Gotha,  vol. 
vii.  1862,  pp.  49-106;  and  in  pamphlet  form.  Also  trans- 
lated into  French  for  the  Revue  Chretienne,  and  into  English 
by  Prof.  Dr.  Henry  B.  Smith  for  the  American  Presbyterian 
Ileview.     New  York,  1863. 

Dr.  J.  J.  VAN  Oosterzee  (Professor  of  Theology  at 
Utrecht)  : — Das  Bild  Christi  nach  der  Schrift.  Hamburg  : 
1864.  {The  Image  of  Christ  according  to  the  Scriptures.) 
Translated  from  fhe  Dutch  by  F.  Meyeringh.  It  is  the  third 
part  of  a  larger  work  of  the  author,  published  at  Rotterdam, 
1855-1861,  in  three  parts, — part  first  treating  of  the  Christo- 
logy  of  the  Old  Testament,  part  second  of  the  Christology  of 
the  New  Testament,  part  third  stating  the  results,  and  form- 
ing a  complete  work  by  itself.  It  describes  the  Son  of  God 
before  his  incarnation,  the  Son  of  God  in  the  flesh,  and  the 
Son  of  God  in  glory. 

M.  GuizoT  : — Meditations  sur  VEssence  de  la  Religion 
Chrcticnne.Vvcm\hvQ&6vic.   Paris  and  Lcii>zig,  1864.    The  8th 


CRITICAL   NOTES.  I47 

Meditation,  pp.  251-329,  treats  of  Christ  according  to  the 
Gospels. 

Two  other  French  works,  which  seem  to  follow  the  same 
train  of  thought,  I  know  only  by  name  :  E.  Dandiran  : — 
Essai  sur  la  Divinite  du  CharacUre  Moral  de  Jesus-Christ. 
Geneve,  1850.  And  Edm.  de  Pressens^  i—Le  Redempteiir . 
Paris,  1854.     (Translated  into  English.) 

ECCE  Homo  : — A  Survey  of  the  Life  and  Work  of  Jesus 
Christ.  London,  Macmillan  &  Co.,  1866.  This  work,  said  to 
"be  written  by  Professor  Seeley  (now  of  Cambridge),  created  a 
sensation  almost  as  great  as  Renan's  Life  of  Jesus,  but  in  a 
healthy  direction,  and  leads  at  least  to  the  threshold  of  Christ's 
divinity,  although  it  deals  exclusively  with  his  humanity. 
Among  the  many  criticisms  and  replies  called  forth,  compare, 
especially,  W.  E.  Gladstone  : — Ecce  Homo^  London  (Strahan 
&Co.),  1868. 

Thomas  Hughes  -.—The  Manliness  of  Christ.  London  and 
Boston,  1880. 

Note  i,  page  i. 
The  painter-monk  Fra  Beato  Angelico  da  Fiesole  (born  in 
Fiesole,  near  Florence,  in  1387,  died  in  Rome  in  1455),  one  of 
the  purest  characters  in  the  whole  history  of  art,  who  from 
the  seraphic  beauty  of  his  angels  and  glorified  saints  was 
called  "the  blessed"  and  '*tlie  angelic,"  painted  the  head  of 
Christ  and  of  the  holy  Virgin  always  in  a  praying  frame  of 
mind  and  on  his  knees.  *'It  would  be  well  for  criticism," 
says  E.  Renan  (in  his  ^^  Studies  of  Eeligious  History  and 
Criticism^'"  trans,  by  O.  B.  Frothingham,  New  York,  1864,  p. 
168),  *'to  imitate  his  example,  and,  only  after  having  adored 
them,  to  face  the  radiance  of  certain  figures  before  which  the 
ages  have  bent  low\  "  Unfortunately,  the  French  philosopher 
understands  this  in  the  sense  of  pantheistic  hero-worship. 
We  regard  only  one  man  as  w^orthy  of  divine  honour  and 
worship, — the  God-man  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

Note  2,  page  3. 

See  Pr.  Horace  Bushnell's  able  work  on  ''Nature  and 

the  Supernatural^''  1858.     The  same  idea  is  expressed  by  Dr. 

John  W.  Nevin,  in  ''  The  Mystical  Presence,"'  Philad.,  1846, 

p.  199,  in  these  words :  **  Nature  and  revelation,  the  world  and 


148  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

Christianity,  as  springing  from  the  same  Divine  Mind,  are 
not  two  different  sj^stems  joined  together  in  a  merely  outward 
way.  They  form  a  single  whole,  harmonious  with  itself  in  all 
its  parts.  The  sense  of  the  one,  then,  is  necessarily  included 
and  comprehended  in  the  sense  of  the  other.  The  mystery  of 
the  new  creation  must  involve,  in  the  end,  the  mystery  of  the 
old ;  and  the  key  that  serves  to  unlock  the  meaning  of  the 
first  must  serve  to  unlock  the  inmost  secret  of  the  last." 

Note  3,  page  4. 

John  6  :  69  :  "We  have  believed  and  know"  {ijfjLeLs  TreTTitr- 

re^Ka/xep  Kai  iyvibKafiev,  credidimus  et  cognovimus).     The  reverse 

order  we  have  in  John  10 :  38  :  "  That  ye  may  know  and  believe 

that  the  Father  is  in  me,  and  I  in  him  ; "  and  in  i  John  5:13. 

Note  4,  page  4. 
*' Fides  prcecedit  intellect icm."  Or  more  fully,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Anselm  of  Canterbury,  adopted  by  Schleiermacher  as 
the  motto  of  his  Dogmatics :  *  ^Neque  enim  qucero  intelligere  ut 
credam,  sed  credo  ut  intelligam.  Nam  qui  non  crediderity  non 
experietuVf  et  qui  expertus  nonfuerit,  non  intelliget.^^ 

Note  5,  page  4. 
'*  Intellectus  prcecedit  Jldem."    This  was  Abelard's  maxim, 
which,  without  the  restriction  of  the  opposite  maxim,  must 
lead  to  rationalism  and  scepticism. 

Note  6,  page  7. 
Dr.  Ullmann,  *'  Die  Sundlosigkeit  Jesu^'  6th  ed.  p.  215  : 
^*Sofuhrt  schon  das  vollendet-Menschliche  in  Jesu,  wenn  wir 
es  Quit  allem  Uehrigen,  was  die  Menschheit  darhietet,  ver- 
gleichen,  zur  Anerkennung  des  Gottlichen  in  ihm."  Dr.  DoR- 
NER,  *^  Entwicklungsgeschichte  der  Lehre  von  der  Person 
Christi"  2d.  ed.  vol.  ii.  p.  121 1  :  ^^  Jesu  Heiligkeit  und  Weis- 
heit,  durch  die  er  unter  den  siindigeny  viel-irrenden  Menschen 
einzig  dasteht,  weiset.  .  .  .  auf  einen  uhernatiXrlichen  Ur- 
sprung  seiner  Person.  Diese  muss,  um  inmitten  der  Sunder- 
welt  hegreiflich  zu  sein,  aus  einer  eigenthilmlichen  und  wundeV" 
bar  schopferischen  That  Gottes  ahgeleitet,ja  es  muss  in  Chris  us 
.  .  .  von  Gott  aus  hetrachtet,  cine  Incarnation  gottlicherLiehe, 
also  gottlichen  Waens  geschen  werden,  was  ihn  als  den  Punkt 


CRITICAL   NOTES.  1 49 

ey'scheinen  Idsst,  wo  Gott  und  die  Menschheit  einzig  und  innigst 
geeinigt  sind." 

Note  7,  page  10. 
This  idea  is  almost  as  old  as  the  Christian  Church,  and  was 
already  taught  by  Iren^US,  who,  through  the  single  link  of 
his  teacher  Polycarp,  stood  connected  with  the  age  of  St.  John 
the  apostle.  He  says  {Adv.  Hcereses,  lib.  ii.  cap.  22,  §  4) : 
"  Omnes  enhn  venit  [Christus]  per  semetipsum  salvare^  omneSy 
inquam,  qui  per  eum  renascuntur  in  Deum^  infantes  et  par- 
vulos  et  pneros  et  seniores,  Ideo  per  omnem  venit  cetatem  et 
infantihus  infans  f actus,  sanctificans  infantes ;  in  parvulis 
parvulus,  sanctificans  hanc  ipsam  hahentes  cetatem,  simul  et 
exemplum  Hits  pietatis  effectus  et  justitice  et  suhjcctionis ;  in 
juvenibus  juvenis,  exemplum  juvenihus  fens  et  sanctificans 
Domino.  Sic  et  senior  in  senioribus  (?),  ut  sit  perfectus  ma- 
gister  in  omnibus,''  &c.  But  Irenseus  erred  in  carrying  the 
idea  too  far,  and  assuming  Christ  to  have  lived  over  fifty 
years,  on  the  ground  of  the  indefinite  estimate  of  the  Jews, 
John  8:57. 

Note  8,  page  11. 

See  Luke  i  :  41-45 ;  the  Magnificat,  or  the  Virgin's  Song, 
vers.  46-55  ;  the  Benedictus,  or  the  Song  of  Zacharias,  vers. 
67-79. 

Note  9,  page  12. 
Bethlehem  was  indeed  the  ancestral  seat  of  the  house  of 
David  (Ruth  i  :  i,  2),  and  fortified  by  Rehoboam  (2  Chron.  11 : 
16),  but  remained  an  insignificant  place,  and  is  not  even  men- 
tioned among  the  towns  of  Judah  in  the  Hebrew  text  of 
Joshua,  nor  in  Neh.  1 1  :  25.  Comp.  Micah.  5  :  i,  where  the 
prophet  thus  contrasts  its  insignificance  with  its  future  destiny 
as  the  birthplace  of  the  Saviour  (according  to  the  Hebrew 
text)  :  "But  thou  Bethlehem  Ephratah,  too  small  to  be 
among  the  thousands  of  Judah^^'^•1^V?'?^?3—^.e.,  the  central 
towns  where  the  heads  of  thousands  or  subordinate  divisions 
of  tribes  resided],  out  of  thee  shall  come  forth  unto  me  One 
who  is  to  be  the  ruler  in  Israel ;  whose  origin  is  from  the  first 
of  time,  from  the  days  of  eternity." 

Note  10,  page  13. 
Compare  the  rich  remarks  of  Dr.  Lange  in  his  commentary 


I50         THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST. 

on  the  second  chapter  of  Matthew,  vers.  i-ii.     (Am.  ed.  vol. 

i.  p.  S5ff.) 

Note  ii,  page  13. 

Luke  2:  40,  "And  the  child  grew  and  waxed  strong  in 
spirit ; "  precisely  the  same  expression  which  Luke  used,  i  : 
80,  of  John  the  Baptist.  Compare  also  for  the  human  growth 
and  development  of  Christ,  Luke  2  :  52 ;  Heb.  2:  10-18  and 
5  :  8  and  9,  where  it  is  said  that  he  learned  obedience,  and, 
being  made  perfect,  he  became  the  author  of  eternal  salva- 
tion. 

Note  12,  page  14. 

Dr.  J.  P.  Lange,  in  his  *'  Leben  Jesu  nach  den  Evangelien,^* 
Heidelberg,  1844  ff.  vol.  ii.  p.  127,  says  :  "The  history  of  Jesus 
in  his  twelfth  year  represents  his  whole  development.  It  is 
the  characteristic  deed  of  his  youth,  the  revelation  of  his 
youthful  life,  a  reflection  of  his  birth,  a  sign  and  anticipation 
of  his  future  heroic  career.  It  represents  the  childhood  of  his 
ideality,  therefore  also  the  ideality  of  childhood  in  general." 
Compare  also  the  suggestive  remarks  of  Olshausen  on  that 
passage,  ^^  Commentar^'  (3d  Germ.  ed.  vol.  i.  p.  145  ff.) ;  and 
of  Van  Oosterzee,  in  Lange's  "  Bibelwerk." 

Note  13,  page  14. 
Luke  2  :  49  ;  ip  roh  rod  Trarpds  fiov  dei,  [del  indicates  a  moral 
necessity  which  is  identical  with  true  freedom,]  elpai  jxe.  The 
fathers  and  most  of  the  modern  commentators  refer  the  rots  to 
the  house  of  God,  or  the  Temple.  This  is  grammatically 
allowable,  but  restricts  the  sense,  and  deprives  it  of  its  deeper 
meaning  ;  for  he  could  only  occasionally  be  in  the  Temple  of 
Jerusalem,  which  besides  had  already  become  a  house  of  mer- 
chandise, (John  2:16)  and  was  soon  to  be  destroyed.  Nearly 
all  the  English  versions,  Tyndale,  Cranmer,  the  Genevan, 
and  James,  translate  more  correctly,  "about  my.  Father's 
business.^'  But  we  object  to  the  term  business  in  this  con- 
nection, and  prefer  the  more  literal  translation  "m  the 
things  (or  affairs)  of  my  Father."  The  in  signifies  the 
life-element  in  which  Christ  moved  during  his  whole  life, 
>vhether  in  the  Temple  or  out  of  it. 

Note  14,  page  15. 
By  Dr.  Horace  Busiinell,  in  his  genial  work,  already 


CRITICAL   NOTES.  IS  I 

quoted,  on  **  Nature  and  the  Supernatural y''  page  280.    ("  The 
Character  of  JesuSj"  page  19  ff.)  • 

Note  15,  page  17. 
See  the  particulars,  with  ample  quotations  from  the  sources, 
in  RuD.  Hoffmann's  "  Leben  Jesu  nach  den  Apokri/phen-lm 
Zusammenhang  aus  den  Quellen  erzaehlt  und  wissenschaftlich 
untersucht/'  Leipzig,  185 1,  p.  140-263.  Also  the  Apocry- 
phal Gospels  by  Tischendorf. 

Note  16,  page  18. 
Renan,  in  his  Life,  or  Romance  rather,  of  Jesus,  chap.  ii. , 
gives  a  graphic  description  of  the  natural  beauties  of  Naza- 
reth, as  among  the  educational  influences  which  account  for 
the  greatness  of  Christ ;  but  all  this  cannot  do  away  Avith  the 
seclusion  and  proverbial  insignificance  of  the  place  (John  i  : 
48),  and  loses  much  of  its  force  when  we  remember  the  naiTOW 
streets  and  filth  of  an  Oriental  town.  **  Nazareth,"  says 
Renan,  "was  a  little  town,  situated  in  a  fold  of  land  broadly 
open  at  the  summit  of  the  group  of  mountains  which  closes  on 
the  north  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon.  The  population  is  now  from 
three  to  four  thousand,  and  it  cannot  have  varied  very  much. 
....  The  environs  are  charming,  and  no  place  in  the  world 
was  so  well  adapted  to  dreams  of  absolute  happiness.  Even 
in  our  days,  Nazareth  is  a  delightful  sojourn, — the  only  place 
perhaps,  in  Palestine,  where  the  soul  feels  a  little  relieved 
of  the  burden  which  weighs  upon  it  in  the  midst  of  this 
unequalled  desolation.  The  people  are  friendly  and  good- 
natured  ;  the  gardens  are  fresh  and  green.  .  .  .  The  beauty 
of  the  women  who  gather  there  at  night — this  beauty  which 
was  already  remarked  in  the  sixth  century,  and  in  which  w^as 
seen  the  gift  of  the  Virgin  Mary  (by  Antonius  Martyr,  Itiner. 
§  5) — has  been  surprisingly  well  preserved.  It  is  the  Syrian 
type  in  all  its  languishing  grace."  Comp.  my  book  Through 
Bible  Lands  (New  York  and  London,  1879),  pp.  320-329. 

Note  17,  page  19. 

Matt.   13  :  54-56.     Compare  also  Mark  6:3,   "  Is  not  this 

the  carpenter,  the  son  of  Mary?"  &c.  ;  from  which  _it  would 

appear  that  Jesus  himself  engaged  in  the  trade  of  Joseph. 

This   is  confirmed   by  ancient  tradition  and  the  custom  of 


152  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

Jewish  Rabbis.  Thus  St.  Paul  was  a  tent-maker  (Acts  18 : 
3).  The  profession  ^f  a  carpenter  was  by  no  means  degrad- 
ing, but  regarded  among  the  most  honourable  and  useful. 
Hence  the  question  of  the  Nazarenes,  ''Is  not  this  the  car- 
penter^s  son  ?  "  is  to  be  taken  as  a  question  of  surprise  rather 
than  of  contempt.  They  denied  the  superiority,  not  the 
equality,  of  Jesus  with  them  ;  and  could  not  understand  from 
his  social  position  how  he  could  rise  above  the  common  level, 
and  perform  such  wonderful  works. 

Note  18,  page  22. 
Comp.  G.  G.  Gervinus  :  "  Shakspeare,''  Leipzig,  1850,  vol. 
i.  pp.  38-41.  This  masterly  critic  and  expounder  of  the 
British  poet  pronounces  him  one  of  the  best  and  most  exten- 
sively informed  men  of  his  age  :  "  JEs  ist  heute  kein  Wagniss 
mehr,  zu  sagen,  dass  SJiakspeare  in  jener  Zeit  an  Umfang 
vielfachen  Wissens  sehr  wenige  seines  Gleichen  gehabt  habeJ^ 

Note  19,  page  23. 
John  Young  :  **  The  Christ  of  History,"  p.  35, 

Note  20,  page  26. 

Heinrich  StefFens,  a  follower  of  Schelling,  and  a  Christian 
philosopher,  bases  his  '  *  System  of  Anthropology  'I  upon  the 
thought  expressed  in  the  text.  But  it  may  be  applied  in 
its  fullest  and  absolute  sense  only  to  Christ,  as  the  ideal  man, 
in  whom  and  through  whom  alone  the  race  can  become  com- 
plete. 

Note  21,  page  31. 

Comp.  with  the  history  of  the  temptation  in  the  wilderness, 
Matt.  4  and  Luke  4,  the  significant  passages  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  4:15,  "Tempted  in  all  points  as  we  are,  yet 
without  sin^'  {Treireipaaixivov  KaroL  ir&vTa  Ka^*  ofJLOLdrrjTa,  x^P^^ 
apLaprias),  and  5:8;  "Though  he  was  a  son,  yet  leaimed  he 
obedience  by  the  things  which  he  suffered"  {Kaiirep  &p  vlbs, 
i/Jia^ev  d<p^  Sov  ^ira^e  ttjv  viraKOjjp,  Kal  rcXeiw^tij  iyiverOf  k.  t.  X.) 

Note  22,  page  32. 
In  scholastic  terminology,   relative  freedom  from  sin  is 
called  posse  non  peccare^  or  impeccahilitas  minor.     To   this 
corresponds  the  posse  non  mori,  or  immortalitas  minor,  i.e., 


CRITICAL  NOTES.  1 53 

the  relative  or  conditional  immortality  of  Adam  in  Paradise, 
which  depended  on  his  probation,  and  was  lost  by  the  Fall. 

Note  23,  page  32. 

The  non  posse  peccarej  or  impeccahilitas  major.  With  this  is 
closely  connected  the  non  posse  mor*,  or  immortalitas  major ^ 
the  absolute  immortality  of  the  resurrection-state,  which  can 
never  be  lost. 

Note  24,  page  32. 

Dr.  Jos.  Berg  (formerly  professor  in  the  Theological  Semi- 
nary at  New  Brunswick),  in  a  friendly  notice  of  the  first 
edition  of  this  essay  (in  his  "Evangelical  Quarterly''  for 
April  1861,  p.  289),  objects  to  this  view  of  the  peccability  of 
the  man  Jesus,  that  it  is  inconsistent  with  his  absolute  holi- 
ness. But  I  cannot  see  the  force  of  his  objection.  Peccability 
is  merely  the  possibility  of  sin,  such  as  attached  also  to  Adam 
in  the  state  of  innocence ;  and  it  by  no  means  involves  Christ 
in  the  reality  of  sin,  either  original  or  actual.  Against  such 
an  inference  the  language  of  the  text  is  sufficiently  guarded. 
It  is  true,  the  angel  called  Christ  the  Holy  Thing  from  the 
moment  of  his  conception,  rh  yevvib^ievov  dyiop  (Luke  i  :  35). 
But  Adam  was  holy  too,  though  "subject  to  fall"  (as  the 
Larger  Westminster  Confession  expresses  it,  qu.  17).  More- 
over, this  original  holiness  cannot  exclude  the  idea  of  the 
physical  and  moral  growth  of  the  Christ- child ;  for  this  is 
distinctly  asserted  by  the  same  Evangelist  (Luke  2  :  40,  52  ; 
comp.  Heb.  5  :  8).  The  denial  of  the  possibility  of  sin  over- 
throws the  realness  of  Christ's  humanity,  and  turns  the  history 
of  the  Temptation  into  a  Gnostic  phantom  and  mere  sham.  It 
is  just  because  Christ  was  really  and  actually  tempted,  and 
this  not  only  by  the  Devil  in  the  wilderness  (Matt.  4),  but 
throughout  his  whole  life  (Luke  22  :  28,  Heb.  4  :  15),  and 
because  he  successfully  resisted  the  temptation  under  every 
form,  that  he  became  both  our  Saviour  and  our  Example 
(comp.  Heb.  5  :  7-9). 

Note  25,  page  33. 

Peter  Bayne  :  *'  The  Testimony  of  Christ  to  Christianity;* 
p.  105. 

Note  26,  page  34. 
Comp.  Acts  3  :  14 ;  i  Pet.  i  :  19 ;  2  :  22 ;  3  :  18 ;  2  Cor.  5 : 
20 


154  THE   PERSON   OF   CHKIST. 

21  ;  I  Jolm  2  :  29 ;  3  :  5,  7  ;  Heb.  4:15;  7  :  26.  Considering 
the  infinite  superiority  of  the  ethics  of  the  apostles  to  the 
ethics  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  it  is  absurd  to  weaken  the  force 
of  this  unanimous  testimony  (as  is  done  by  D.  F.  Strauss, 
^^  Die  christliche  Glaiihenslehre"  vol.  ii.  p.  192  ;  and  to  some 
extent  even  by  Hase,  ''  Lehen  Jesu^^  p.  61)  by  a  reference  to 
Xenophon's  estimate  of  Socrates :  **  No  one  ever  saw  Socrates 
do,  or  heard  him  say,  anything  impious  or  unholy  "  (Oi;5eis 
TTwirore  ^coKpdrovs  ovbkv  dae^es  ovd^  avSaiov  oUre  irpdrTOPTOS  eldey, 
o\jT€  XiyovTos  iJKovaev. — Memorab.,  i.  11).  In  the  best  case, 
this  is  only  a  negative  judgment  of  his  conduct,  and  not  of 
the  state  of  his  heart ;  it  acquits  Socrates  of  all  manifesta- 
tion of  impiety,  without  attributing  to  him,  positively,  reli- 
gious or  moral  perfection.  It  is  a  very  different  thing  to 
assert  of  a  man  that  he  was  free  from  sin  and  error,  and  to 
set  forth  in  actual  life  a  consistent  sinless  character.  The 
purest  man,  if  he  were  to  invent  such  a  character,  would 
inevitably  mix  up  with  it  some  traits  of  human  imperfection, 
or  overdraw  the  picture  beyond  the  truly  human  sphere.  But 
the  gospel-picture  of  Christ  is  throughout  perfectly  original 
and  truthful,  and  maintains  its  spotless  purity  in  every  trait, 
and  under  every  situation  and  temptation. 

Note  27,  page  35. 
Matt.  27  :  19,  24-54  J  Luke  23  :  22-47  J  Matt.  27  :  4. 

Note  28,  page  36. 
John  8  :  46.     Compare  the  commentators,  and  the  reflec" 
tions  of  Ullmann,  1.  c.  pp.  92  fF. 

Note  29,  page  37. 
Quoted  from  Dr.  H.  Bushnell,  1.  c.  p.  325.  The  sinless- 
ness  of  Jesus  is  denied  by  D.  F.  Strauss,  in  his  two  destruc- 
tive works,  **  The  Life  of  Jesus, ^^  and  **  The  Dogmatics  in  Con- 
flict with  Modern  Science  ;  "  and  this  mainly  from  the  d-priori 
philosophical  argument  of  the  impossibility  of  sinlessness,  or 
the  pantheistic  notion  of  the  inseparableness  of  sin  from  all 
finite  existence.  The  only  exegetical  proof  he  urges  {" Dog- 
mat. ,"  ii.  192)  is  Christ's  word.  Matt.  19:  17:  ''There  is 
none  good  but  one,  that  is  God."  But  Christ  answers  here  to 
the  preceding  question,  and  the  implied  misconception  0? 


CRITICAL  NOTES.  1 55 

goodness.  He  does  not  decline  the  epithet  good  as  such,  hut 
ouly  in  the  superficial  sense  of  the  rich  youth  who  regarded 
him  simply  as  a  distinguished  Rabbi  and  a  good  man,  not  as 
one  with  God.  He  did  not  say,  /  am  not  good  ;  but  None  is 
goody  no  man  is  good, — much  less  in  comparison  with  God. 
In  other  words,  he  rejected  not  so  much  the  title  Good 
Master,  as  that  spirit  and  state  of  mind  which  looked  upon 
him  only  as  an  exemplar  of  human  wisdom  and  morality. 
In  no  case  can  he  be  supposed  to  have  contradicted  his  own 
testimony  concerning  his  innocence.  The  difficulty  of  the 
passage  is  still  more  effectually  removed  if  we  read  with  the 
best  authorities:  *'Why  askesfc  thou  me  of  that  which  is 
good?  One  there  is  who  is  good."  See  the  commentators 
ad  locum,  especially  Olshausen,  Meyer,  and  Lange. 

A  French  writer,  F.  Pecaut,  "Ze  Christ  et  la  Conscience!^ 
Paris,  1859,  likewise  denies  the  sinlessness  of  Christ.  Pecaut 
refers  to  the  following  facts  as  evidences  of  moral  imperfection, 
— the  conduct  of  Jesus  toward  his  mother  in  his  twelfth  year, 
his  rebuke  administered  to  her  at  the  wedding-feast  of  Cana, 
liis  expulsion  of  the  profane  traffickers  from  the  Temple,  his 
cursing  of  the  unfruitful  fig-tree,  the  destruction  of  therherd  of 
swine,  his  bitter  invectives  against  the  Pharisees,  and  his  own 
rejection  of  the  attribute  good  in  the  dialogue  Avith  the  rich 
youth.  But  all  these  difficulties  are  of  easy  solution,  and  not 
to  be  compared  with  the  difficulties  on  the  other  side  as  pre- 
sented in  the  text.  On  the  other  hand,  Pecaut  himself,  in- 
consistently enough,  admits  in  a  very  eloquent  passage  that 
Christ's  moral  character  rose  beyond  comparison  above  that 
of  any  other  great  man  in  antiquity,  and  was  wholly  pene- 
trated by  God.  How,  in  the  name  of  logic,  is  it  possible  to 
admit  so  much  of  goodness,  and  yet  to  impeach  his  veracity 
when  he  claims  to  be  entirely  free  from  sin,  and  equal  with 
God  ?  Veracity  and  honesty  are  the  very  foundation  of  a  good 
character,  and  there  can  be  no  morality  without  them.  Com- 
pare also,  against  Pecaut,  the  remarks  of  Dr.  VAN  Ooster- 
zee  in  his  work  on  Christ,  German  translation,  page  166  If. 

Note  30,  page  37. 
So  Schleiermacher,  the  greatest  theological  genius  since 
Calvin,   in  his  work,    ^^ Der  christliche  Glauhe,^^  3d  edition 
(1836),  vol.  ii.  p.  78  :  ^^  Christus  war  von  alien  andeiifi  Men- 


156  THE    PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

$chen  unterschieden  durch  seine  wesentliche  Unsundlichhcit 
und  seine  schlechthinige  Vollkommenheit ;^^  i.e.,  *' Christ 
diii'ered  from  aU  other  men  by  his  essential  sinlessness  and 
his  absolute  perfection  ;  "  a  proposition  which  Schleiermacher 
most  ably  establishes  not  only  in  his  ^^ Dogmatics,''  but  also 
in  many  of  his  sermons.  Hase  and  Keim  likewise  admit  the 
sinless  perfection  of  Jesus. 

Note  31,  page  43. 
Cicero,  Qucest  Tuscul.,  ii.  22:  ^^  Quern  [in  quo  erit  per- 
fecta  sapiential  adhuc  nos  quidem  vidirnus  neminem,  sed 
philosophorum  sententiis^  qualis  futurus  sit,  si  modo  aliquando 
fuerit,  exponitury  The  same  writer,  in  the  same  work,  ii.  4, 
speaks  in  the  strongest  terms  of  the  gross  contrast  between 
the  doctrine  and  the  life  of  the  philosophers.  QuiNTiLLiAN 
accuses  them  of  concealing  the  worst  vices  under  the  name 
of  the  ancient  philosophy  {Instit.  i.  Proceni.)  The  virtue  of 
chastity,  in  our  Christian  sense,  was  almost  unknown  among 
the  heathen.  Woman  was  essentially  a  slave  of  man's  lower 
passions.  It  is  notorious  that  disreputable  women,  called 
iralpai,  or  amicce,  were  attached  in  Corinth  to  the  Temple  of 
Aphrodite,  and  enjoyed  the  sanction  of  religion  for  the  prac- 
tice of  vice.  These  dissolute  characters  were  esteemed  above 
housewives,  and  became  the  proper  representatives  of  female 
culture  and  social  elegance.  Remember  Aspasia,  Phryne, 
Lais,  Theodora,  who  attracted  the  admiration  and  courtship 
even  of  earnest  philosophers  like  Socrates,  and  statesmen  like 
Pericles.  To  the  question  of  Socrates,  **  Is  there  any  one  with 
whom  you  converse  less  t^an  with  the  Avife?"  his  pupil 
Aristobolus  replied,  **  No  one,  or  at  least  very  few."  Worse 
than  this,  the  disgusting  vice  of  psederastia,  which  even  de- 
praved nature  abhors,  was  practised  as  a  national  habit  among 
the  Greeks,  without  punishment  or  dishonour;  was  freely 
discussed,  commended,  and  praised  by  their  poets  and  philo- 
sophers, and  likewise  divinely  sanctioned  by  the  lewdness  of 
Jupiter  with  Ganymede.  Dr.  DoLLlNGER,  in  his  instructive 
and  learned  work,  ''  Heidenthum  und  Judenthum"  1857,  p. 
684  ff.,  sums  up  his  investigation  on  this  subject  with  the 
following  statement  :  **  Bei  den  Griechen  tritt  das  Laster  der 
Pcederastie  mit  alien  Symptomen  einer  grossen  nationalen 
Krankheit,  gleichsam  eiiies  ethischen  Miasma  auf ;  es  zeigt 


CEITICAL  NOTES.  157 

sich  als  em  Gcfulil,  das  stdrher  und  heftiger  wirlde,  ah  die 
Weiberliehe  hei  anderen  Volkern,  massloser,  leidenschaftlicher 
in  seinen  Anshriichen  war.  Basende  Eifersucht,  unhedingte 
Hingehiing,  sinnliche  Ghith,  zdrtliche  Tdndelei,  iidclitliches 
Weilen  vor  der  Thure  des  Geliehten,  Alles,  was  zur  Carricatur 
der  naturlichen  Geschlechtsliebe  gehort^  findet  sich  dahei. 
Audi  die  ernstesten  Moralisten  war  en  in  der  Benrtheihing  des 
Verhdltnisses  hochst  nachsichtig,  sie  hehandelten  die  Sache 
hdiifig  mehr  mit  leichtsinnigem  Scherze,  iind  duldeten  die 
Schuldigen  in  Hirer  Gesellschaft.  In  der  ganzen  Literatur  der 
vorchristlichen  Periode  ist  kautn  ein  Schriftsteller  zu  finden, 
der  sich  entschieden  dagegen  erkldrt  hdtte.  Vielmehr  war  die 
ganze  Gesellschaft  davon  angesteckt,  und  man  athmete  das 
Miasma,  so  zu  sagen,  mit  der  Luft  ein."  On  the  whole  sub- 
ject of  heathen  morals,  compare  this  work  of  DoLLiNGER  ; 
also  C.  Schmidt,  ^'Essai  Historique  sur  la  Societe  dans  le 
Monde  Eomain,  etsur  la  Transformation  par  le  Christianisme,'* 
Paris,  1853;  and  SCHAFF,  ^^  History  of  the  Apostolic  Church," 
pp.  147-157,  443-454;  and  *^  History  of  the  Christian  Church" 
vol.  i.  p.  302. 

Note  32,  page  44. 
Theodore  Parker  :  ^^  Discourses  of  Beligion^^  p.  294. 

Note  33,  page  44. 

RenAN  makes  some  striking  admissions  on  this  point, 
though  not  unmixed  with  error.  *'  Morality,"  he  says  in  the 
fifth  chapter  of  his  "  Vie  de  J^sus"  "is  not  composed  of 
principles  more  or  less  well  expressed.  The  poetry  of  the  pre- 
cept which  makes  it  lovely  is  more  than  the  precept  itself, 
taken  as  an  abstract  verity.  Now,  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
the  maxims  borrowed  by  Jesus  from  his  predecessors " 
[Christ  borrowed  nothing  from  anybody]  "produce  in  the 
Gospel  an  effect  totally  different  from  that  in  the  ancient 
Law,  in  the  Pirke  Ahoth,  or  in  the  Talmud.  It  is  not  the 
ancient  Law,  it  is  not  the  Talmud,  which  has  conquered  and 
changed  the  world.  Little  original  in  itself  [?],  if  by  that  is 
meant  that  it  can  be  recomposed  almost  entirely  with  more 
ancient  maxims,  the  evangelical  morality  remains  none  the 
less  the  highest  creation  which  has  emanated  from  the  human 
consciousness,  the  most  beautiful  code  of  perfect  life  that  any 


138  THE   PERSON   OF   CHPJST. 

moralist  has  traced  [la  morale  ivang^lique  7i'en  reste  pas  moins 
la  plus  haute  creation  qui  soil  sortie  de  la  conscience  humaine^ 
le  plus  beau  code  de  la  vie  parfaite  qyCaucun  moraliste  ait 
trac€).''\  .  .  "Jesus,  son  of  Sirach,  and  Hillel,  had  enunci- 
ated aphorisms  almost  as  lofty  as  those  of  Jesus.  Hillel, 
however,  will  never  be  considered  the  real  founder  of  Chris- 
tianity. In  morality,  as  in  art,  words  are  nothing ;  deeds 
are  everything.  The  idea  which  is  concealed  beneath  a 
picture  of  Raphael  is  a  small  thing :  it  is  the  picture  alone 
that  counts.  Likewise,  in  morality,  truth  becomes  of  value 
only  if  it  pass  to  the  condition  of  feeling ;  and  it  attains  all 
its  preciousness  only  when  it  is  realised  in  the  world  as  a 
fact.  Men  of  indifferent  morals  have  written  very  good 
maxims.  Men  very  virtuous,  also,  have  done  nothing  to 
continue  the  tradition  of  their  virtue  in  the  world.  The 
palm  belongs  to  him  who  has  been  mighty  in  word  and  in 
work  ;  who  has  felt  the  truth,  and,  at  the  price  of  his  blood, 
has  made  it  triumph.  Jesus,  from  this  double  point  of  view, 
is  without  equal :  his  glory  remains  complete,  and  will  be 
renewed  for  ever.  {J6sus,  d  se  double  point  de  vue,  est  sans 
igal ;  sa  gloire  reste  entidre  et  sera  toujour s  renouvelee.Y' 

Note  34,  page  44. 
The  relation  of  husband  and  father  must  be  excepted,  on 
account  of  his  elevation  above  all  equal  partnership,  and  the 
universalness  of  his  character  and  mission  which  requires  the 
entire  community  of  the  redeemed  as  his  bride  instead  of  any 
individual  daughter  of  Eve. 

Note  35,  page  46. 
Mark  7 :  37.     The   expression  of  the  people,  fcaXws  tt&.vtq, 
ireiroL'rjKe  {bene  omnia  fecit)^  must  be  taken  as  a  general  judg- 
ment,   inferred  not  only  from  the   particular   case   related 
befoie,  but  from  all  they  had  heard  and  seen  of  Christ. 

Note  36,  page  54. 
Matt.  27  :  46.     It  should  be  remembered  that  Jesus  speaks 
here  in  the  prophetical  and  typical  words  of  David,  Ps.  22 : 
2 ;  while,  when  speaking  in  his  own  language,  he  uniformly 
addresses  God  as  hjs  Father. 


CRITICAL  NOTES.  159 

Note  2>7,  page  58. 
I  Cor.  II  :  I.     Comp.  i   Thess.    1:6:    "Ye  beccame  fol- 
lowers of  us  and  of  the  Lord. " 

Note  38,  page  59. 
Matt.  4  :  19 ;  8  :  22  ;  9  :  9  ;  Mark  2  :  14  ;  8  :  34  ;  10  :  21  ; 
Luke   5  :   27  ;  9  *•  23,    59  ;    18  :  22  ;   John   i  :   43  ;    10  :    27  ; 
12  :  26. 

Note  39,  page  59. 

Matt.  12 :  1-8 ;  Mark  2 :  23-28 ;  Luke  5:1-9;  John  5  : 
16-18. 

Note  40,  page  60. 

John  9:3:  ** Neither  hath  this  man  sinned,  nor  his 
parents ;  (but  he  was  born  blind)  that  the  works  of  God 
should  be  made  manifest  in  him. " 

Note  41,  page  60. 
See  the  dialogue  with  the  woman   of  Samaria,   John  4  : 
5  ff. ;  and  the  parable  of  the  merciful  Samaritan,  Luke  10 : 

Note  42,  page  62. 
Comp.  UllmaNN,  ''  Sundlosigkeit"  p.  67;  J.  P.  LANGE, 
*'' Lehen  Jesu"  i.  27-34;  Ebrard,  ^*  Dogmatik"  vol.  ii.  23, 
24.  Also  Hase,  in  his  ^^  Lehen  Jesu,'^  -p.  63  (4th  ed.),  places 
the  ideal  beauty  of  Christ's  character  in  ^*das  schone  Ehen- 
maass  alter  Krdfte,"  and  in  **vollendete  Gottesliebe  dargestellt 
in  reinster  Humanitdt^^  (**The  beautiful  symmetry  of  all 
powers,"  and  **  perfect  love  to  God,  exhibited  in  the  purest 
humanity  ").  Bishop  D.  WiLSON,  in  his  *  *  Evidences  of  Chris- 
tianity'* voL  ii.  1x6  (Boston  ed.  of  1830),  remarks:  "The 
opposite,  and  to  us  apparently  contradictory,  graces  were 
found  in  Christ  in  equal  proportion."  Dr.  W.  E.  Channing, 
the  Unitarian,  in  his  able  sermon  on  the  **  Character  of 
Christ"  {Works f  vol.  iv.  p.  23),  says  :  "This  combination  of 
the  spirit  of  humanity,  in  its  lowliest,  tenderest  form,  with  the 
consciousness  of  unrivalled  and  divine  glories,  is  the  most 
wonderful  distinction  of  this  Avonderful  character."  GuizoT, 
Meditations  sur  V Essence  de  la  Relig.  Chretienne,  1864,  p. 
274 :  "  Rien  ne  me  frappe  plus  dans  les  ^vangiles  que  ce 
double  charactere  de  severity  et  d'amour^  de  puretd  austdre  et 


l60  THE   PERSON   OF   CHIUST. 

de  ^ympathie  tendre  qui  apparait  et  rtgne  constamment  dans 
les  actes  et  dans  les  paroles  de  Jesus-Christ,  en  tout  ce  qui 
touche  aux  r appoints  de  Dieu  avec  les  Jiommes."  I  add  a 
testimony  from  Dr.  Luthardt'S  ''  Apologetische  Vortrdge 
iiher  die  Grundwahrheiten  des  Christenthums,'"  Leipz.  1864,  p. 
204  :  ''  The  image  of  Jesus  is  the  image  of  the  highest  and 
purest  harmony  both  of  his  natural  and  his  moral  being. 
With  all  other  men  there  is  some  discrepancy  in  the  inner 
life.  The  two  poles  of  intellectual  life,  knowledge  and  feel- 
ing, head  and  heart,  the  two  powers  of  the  moral  life, 
thought  and  will,— in  whom  are  they  fully  agreed?  But  as 
to  Jesus,  Ave  all  have  the  lively  impression,  here  reigns 
perfect  harmony  of  the  inner  spiritual  life.  His  soul  is  at 
absolute  peace.  ...  He  is  all  love,  all  heart,  all  feeling; 
and  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  all  intellect,  all  clearness,  all 
majesty.  .  .  .  All  is  quiet  greatness,  peaceful  simplicity, 
sublime  harmony." 

Note  43,  page  d^. 
** Politiay''  p.  74  sq.  ed.  Ast.  {''Plat.  Opera,^''  vol.  iv.  p. 
360,  E.  ed.  Bip.)  Compare  the  author's  ''History  of  the 
Apostolic  Churchy'''  English  edition,  §  109,  page  433.  Jean 
Jacques  Bousseau  was  struck  with  this  remarkable  heathen 
prophecy  of  the  suffering  Saviour,  who  died  the  death  of  a 
malefactor  and  a  slave  to  redeem  us.  **  Quand  Platon,''  he 
says  in  his  Rmil,  "  peint  son  juste  imaginaire  convert  de 
tout  Vopprohre  du  crime  et  digne  de  tous  les  prix  de  la  vertu, 
it  peint  trait  pour  trait  J tsus-Christ :  la  ressemhlance  est  si 
frappantCy  que  tous  les  ptres  font  se7itie,  et  qu'il  rCest  pas 
possible  de  s'y  tromper, " 

Note  44,  page  69. 

John  7  :  3-10.  The  brethren  of  Jesus  appear,  at  all  events, 
as  members  and  inmates  of  the  holy  family  either  by  birth  or 
adoption.  Compare  the  author's  exegetical  article  on  the 
*'  BrotJiers  of  Christy''  in  the  "  Bihliotheca  Sacra"  for  October 
1864 ;  and  notes  in  his  edition  of  Lange's  **  Commentary  on 
Matthew"  p.  256. 

Note  45,  page  74. 

Rousseau,  ^m^7,  iv.  p.  in  :  "  Qui,  si  la  vie  et  la  mort  de 
Socrate  sont  dun  sage ;  la  vie  et  la  mort  de  Jesus  sont  d'un 
dieu  !  "    See  Appendix. 


CRITICAL  NOTES.  l6l 

Note  46,  page  79. 
^*Ber  Reinste  unter  den  Mdchtigen,  der  Mdchtigste  unter 
den  Beineii,  der  mit  seiner  durchstochenen  Hand  Belche  aus 
der  Angel,  den  Strom  der  Jahrhunderte  aus  dem  Bette  hoh 
und  nochfortgehietet  den  Zeiten"  Jean  Paul,  "  Ueher  d^n 
Gott  in  der  Geschichte  und  im  Leben."  Sdmmtliche  Werke^ 
vol.  xxxiii.  6. 

Note  47,  page  80. 

**  Fee  de  Jesus/'  7th  ed.  Paris,  1864,  p.  325:  "Quels  que 
puissent  etre  les  phenomdnes  inattendues  de  Vavenir,  Jesus  ne 
sera  pas  surpasse.  Son  culte  se  rajeunira  sans  cesse  ;  sa  legeiide 
vrovoquera  des  larmes  sans  Jin  ;  ses  souff ranees  attendriront  les 
meilleurs  cceurs ;  tous  les  sidcles  proclameront  qu'entre  les  fils 
des  hommes,  il  n'en  est  pas  ne  de  plus  grand  que  Jcsus.'^ 
Renan,  however,  spoils  his  concessions,  which  are  quite  fre- 
quent and  enthusiastic,  by  his  pantheistic  man-worship,  and 
by  placing  Cakya-Mouni,  the  founder  of  Buddhism,  on  a  par 
with  Christ.  Compare  the  last  chapter  of  his  "  Vie  de  Jesus" 
and  also  the  conclusion  of  his  essay  on  the  "  Critical  Eisto- 
rians  of  Jesus,"  where  he  says  of  Christ  :  "The  wonder-worker 
and  the  prophet  Avill  die  ;  the  man  and  the  sage  will  endure  ; 
or,  rather,  the  eternal  beauty  will  live  for  ever  in  this  sublime 
name,  as  in  all  those  whom  humanity  has  chosen  to  keep  it  in 
mind  of  its  own  nature,  and  to  transport  it  by  the  view  of  its 
own  image.  Behold  there  the  living  God !  This  is  the  ador- 
able One  ! " 

Note  48,  page  80. 

Dr.  Baur  :  '  *  Das  Christenthum  und  die  christliche  Kirche 
der  ersten  drei  Jahrhunderte."    (See  note  85,  p.  172.) 

Note  49,  page  83. 

For  a  very  full  exposition  of  this  testimony  we  refer  to  the 

instructive  and  able  work  of  W.  Fr.  Gess  :  '^  Die  Lehre  von 

der  Berson  Christi  entwickelt  aus  dem  Sehsthewusstsein  Christi 

und  aus  dem  Zeugnisse  der  Apostel."    Basel.  1856,  new  ed., 

much  enlarged,  1879.     Dr.  Bushnell's  admirable  essay  on  the 

,  character  of  Jesus  is  defective  here.     He  does  not  establish 

the  proper  divinity  of  Christ,  but  seems  content  with  the  proof 

that  he  was  more  than  man,  and  cannot  be  classified  with 

men.     Having  carried  the  reader  over  the  great  difficulty,  and 

21 


1 62  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

beyond  the  boundary  of  hiimanitarianism,  he  leaves  him  to 
his  own  conclusion  concerning  the  merits  of  the  orthodox  view 
of  Christ.     The  same  is  true  of  Prof.  Seeley's  *'  Ecce  Homo. " 

Note  50,  page  2>t,, 
Compare  the  dictionaries,  and  especially  Bruder's  * '  Greek 
Concordance  of  the  New  Testament  "  suh  verbo  vibs  rod  av'^pdoirov. 

Note  51,  page  84. 

So  many  modern  German  commentators,  and  also  Dr. 
Teench,  who  remarks:  "He  was  ^  Son  of  man/  as  alone 
realising  all  which  in  the  idea  of  man  was  contained,  as  the 
second  Adam,  the  head  and  representative  of  the  race, — the 
one  true  and  perfect  flower,  which  ever  unfolded  itself,  of  the 
root  and  stock  of  humanity.  Claiming  this  title  as  his  own, 
he  witnessed  against  opposite  poles  of  error  concerning  his 
person, — the  Ebionite,  to  which  the  exclusive  use  of  the  title 
*  Son  of  David '  might  have  led ;  and  the  Gnostic,  which 
denied  the  reality  of  the  human  nature  that  bore  it"  (" Notes 
on  the  Parables,'*  ninth  London  edition,  page  84).  LiDDON 
{*'  Bampton  Lectures  on  the  Divinity  of  Christ,^'  1868,  p.  8) : 
*'The  title  *Son  of  Man'  does  not  merely  assert  his  real  in- 
corporation with  our  kind ;  it  exalts  Him  indefinitely  above 
us  all  as  the  representative,  the  ideal,  the  pattern  Man." 
Philo,  the  Jewish  divine  and  philosopher,  a  contemporary  of 
Christ,  calls  the  Logos  the  true  man,  6  dXrf^Lvbs  dv^pcoiros. 
Note  52,  page  84. 

Matt.  9:  27;  15:  22;  12:  23;  21  :  9;  22:  41  ff.,  &c. 

Note  53,  page  S6. 
Matt.  16  :  17 ;  compare  19  :  28  ;  24 :  30 ;  25  :  31 ;  26 :  64; 
Luke  21  :  27,  36. 

Note  54,  page  Sy. 
Matt.  II  :  27  ;  21 :  37 ;  22  :  42 ;  26 :  63  f.  ;  27  :  43 ;  Mark 
12:  6;  13:  32;   14  :  62 ;  Luke   10:  22;  John  5:  19-26;  9; 
35-38;  10:  36;  II  :  4;  14:  13;  17:  I ;  19:  7. 

Note  55,  page  87. 
Matt.   16  :  16;  Mark  3:11;  John  i  :  18,  34,  49;  11  :  27; 
20  :.  31, — besides  the  many  passages  in  the  Acts  and  Epistles, 


CRITICAL  NOTES.  1 63 

■where  the  term  vlbs  tov  GeoO  is  as  frequent  as  the  term  vibs  toO 
dp^pibirov  in  the  Gospels. 

Note  56,  page  87. 
Matt.  3:17;  Luke  3  :  22 ;  Matt.  17  :  5 ;  Luke  9  :  35, 

Note  57,  page  88. 
Matt.  II :  27.     This  passage  is  a  striking  parallel  to  the  sub» 
limest  sayings  in  the  fourth  Gospel,  and  proves  the  essential 
identity  of  the  Synoptist  and  Johannean  picture  of  Christ. 

Note  58,  page  S8. 
John  3  :  36 ;  5 :  24  ;  6  :  40,  47,  50-58 ;  ii  :  25. 

Note  59,  page  88. 

John  4  :  26 ;  5  :  36,  39 ;  Matt.  14  :  33  ;  16  :  16  f . ;  26 :  63  f. ; 
&c. 

Note  60,  page  89. 

Matt.  26 :  63-65.  Schleiermacher  pronounces  this  affirma- 
tive Yea  of  Christ,  in  view  of  the  surrounding  circumstances, 
the  greatest  word  ever  spoken  by  any  man,  the  most  glorious 
apotheosis,  and  the  most  certain  assurance  by  which  any 
divinity  could  proclaim  itself  {^'das  grosste  Wort,  was  je  ein 
Sterhlicher  gesagt  haty  die  herrlichste  Apotheose ;  heine  Gott- 
hcit  kann  gewisser  sein  als  die,  welche  so  sich  selhst  verkun- 
digeV^).  See  his  youthful  work,  '^Discourses  on  Religion" 
{Eeden  uber  die  Religion),  4th  edition,  Berlin,  183 1,  p.  292. 

Note  61,  page  89. 
Matt.  16  :  19  ;  27  :  11 ;  Luke  22  :  30 ;  John  18  :  36.     Com- 
pare Dan.  7  :  13 ;  Luke  i  :  33. 

Note  62,  page  89. 
John  5  :  22,  25-27 ;  Matt.  25  :  31  ff.,  &c. 

Note  62>y  page  89. 
Matt.   18:  II;  Luke  9:  56;  19:  10;  John  3  :  17;  5:  34; 
10  :  9  ;  12  :  47.     Compare  Luke  i  :  47 ;  2  ;  11 ;  John  4  :  42, 
&c. 

Note  64,  page  91. 
*^  Mundus  ncnf actus  est  in  temjpore,  sed  cum  tempore^ 


164  THE  PERSON   OF  CHRIST. 

Note  65,  page  91. 
John  8 :  58  :  'Afirjv,  dfxrjv  [the  solemn  announcement  of  an 
important  truth]  Xiyw  v/xTv,  irplv  'A^paajx  yevecr^aL  eyu)  elfxi, 
Mark  also  the  difference  of  the  verb  (which  is  lost  in  our 
English  version),  besides  the  difference  of  the  tense.  For 
yivea^ai,  to  become,  to  begin  to  be,  to  pass  from  no7i- existence 
into  existence,  implies  origin  in  time  or  previous  non-existence, 
and  is  applicable  only  to  created  beings;  while  eXvai  is  equally 
applicable  to  God  and  to  eternal  existence.  Compare  the  ^  v 
of  the  A670S,  John  i  ;  i,  with  the  eyivero  of  the  man  John, 
ver.  6.  H.  A.  W.  Meyer,  one  of  the  fairest  and  most  accurate 
grammatical  commentators,  correctly  remarks  on  John  8  :  58  : 
**/>«  Abraham  nicht  prdexistirt  hatte,  sondern  {durch  seine 
Gebu7^t)  ZUR  ExiSTENZ  KAM,  SO  steht  yevia'^ac,  wogegen  mit 
clfxl  das  Sein  an  SICH  gemeint  ist,  welches  bei  Jesu  {sofern  er 
naxh  seinem  gottUchen  Wesen  vorzeitlich  war)  ohne  vorgdngiges 
Gewordensein  war.  Das  Praesens  bezeichnet  das  ans  der  Ver- 
gangenheit  her,  d.  i.  hier :  aus  der  Vorzeitlichkeit  her  ( Joh. 
I  :  I  ;  17  :  5),  Fortdauernde.  Vrgl.  Ixx.,  Jer.  1:5;  Ps.  90 :  2  ; 
Winer,  Gramm.  p.  309."  Meyer  then  goes  on  to  refute  the 
Socinian  and  rationalistic  misinterpretations  of  the  passage. 


John  17  :  5.     Compare  the  testimony  of  the  apostles  on  the 
re-existenoe, — John  i  :  1-14;  Col.  i  :  16 ;  Heb.  i  :  2,  3. 


Note  66,  page  91 
Com] 
pre-existenoe, 

Note  67,  page  92. 
Matt.  9:6;  Luke  5  :  20-24  J  7  •  47»  4S» 

Note  6^,  page  93. 
John  10  :  30.  The  passage  teaches,  certainly,  more  than 
the  ethical  unity  of  Avill :  it  asserts,  according  to  the  context, 
the  unity  of  powder  which  is  based  on  the  unity  of  essence,  or 
the  homousia.  The  ^v  excludes  Arianism ;  the  plural  ^tr/xer, 
Sabellianism  and  Patripassianism. 

Note  69,  page  93. 

Dr.  Hengstenberg,  in  his  * '  Commentary/  on  the  Gospel 

of  St.  John,"  1863,  vol.  iii.  p.  361,  justly  remarks  :  '' Men- 

schen,  die  sich  selbst  zu  Gott  machen,  sind  immer  entweder 

Verruckte  oder  Bosewichter,     Wer  anders,  als  wcr  selbst  ein 


CRITICAL  NOTES.  1 65 

Frevler  ist,  wird  es  wagen  Jesum,  in  die  eine  oder  die  andere 
dieser  Classen  zu  seizeyi  ?"  The  anonymous  author  of  "  Ecce 
Deus"  (Boston  ed.,  p.  23)  remarks  :  ''Christ  must  be  more 
than  a  good  man,  or  worse  than  the  worst  man.  If  he  be  not 
God,  he  is  the  Devil." 

Note  70,  page  93. 
**  Of  all  the  readers  of  the  gospel,"  saj'S  BUSHNELL,  p.  290, 
"it  probably  never  even  occurs  to  one  in  a  hundred  thousand 
to  blame  his  conceit,  or  the  egregious  vanity  of  his  preten- 
sions." 

Note  71,  page  94. 

The  explanation  which  some  Socinian  and  Unitarian  divines 
give  of  these  words  of  Thomas,  by  resolving  them  into  a 
mere  exclamation  of  surprise  at  the  fact  of  the  resurrection, 
**  O  my  God  ! "  is  simply  absurd,  and  only  worthy  of  notice 
as  revealing  the  inextricable  difficulty  which  it  presents  to 
the  Unitarian  Christology. 

Note  72,  page  loi. 

Similar  views  are  more  fully  carried  out  by  Dr.  Bushnell 
(*'  Nature  and  the  Supernatural "),  and  Professor  Christlieb 
{** Modern  Doubts^"  d-c.) 

Note  73,  page  103. 

Is  was  first  suggested  by  the  heathen  assailants  of  Chris- 
tianity, Celsus  and  JULIAN  THE  APOSTATE,  then  insinuated 
by  French  Deists  of  the  school  of  Voltaire,  but  never  raised 
to  the  dignity  of  scientific  argument.  The  only  attempt  to 
carry  it  out,  and  that  a  mere  fragmentary  one,  was  made  by 
the  anonymous  "  Wolfejibiittel  Fragmentist,''  since  known 
as  Hermann  Samuel  Reimarus,  professor  of  Oriental 
Literature  in  the  College  at  Hamburg,  who  died  in  1786. 
His  ^^  Fragments^'  were  never  intended  for  publication,  but 
only  for  a  few  friends.  Lessing  found  them  in  the  library  at 
Wolfenbiittel,  and  commenced  to  publish  them,  without  the 
author's  knowledge,  in  1774  ;  not,  as  he  said,  because  he 
agreed  with  them,  but  because  he  wished  to  arouse  the  spirit 
of  investigation.  This  mode  of  procedure,  Semler,  the  father 
of  German  neology,  wittily  compared  to  the  act  of  setting  a 
city  on  fire  for  the  purpose  of  tiying  the  engines.  In  our  own 
time,  Bruno  Bauer,  a  theological  weathercock,  vagabond, 
and  final  apostate  (not  to  be  confounded  with  the  far  superior 


1 66  THE  PERSON  OP   CHRIST. 

Dr.  F.  Ch.  Baur),  has  endeavoured  to  revive,  "but  without 
effect,  this  exploded  theory,  and  has  misrepresented  the 
Gospels  as  deliberate  fabrications.  But  even  Strauss  ignores 
him  (in  his  new  ^^  Life  of  Jesus  ")  as  unfit  for  his  company. 

Note  74,  page  108. 
^'Discourse  on  the    Character  of   Christ,'^ — Channing's 
Works i  vol.  iv.  17,  18. 

Note  75,  page  109. 
The  so-called  rationalismus  communis,  or  vulgaris,  or  tlie 
rationalism  of  common  sense,  as  distinct  from  the  transcen- 
dental rationalism  of  uncommon  sense  or  speculative  reason. 
The  sense  of  both  systems,  however,  ends  in  nonsense.  Dr. 
Marheineke  defined  a  Rationalist,  or,  as  Paulus  (not  of 
Tarsus,  but  of  Heidelberg)  called  him,  a  Denkglduhige,  as  a 
man,  der  zu  denken  glauht  und  zu  glauhen  denkt ;  es  ist  aber 
mit  beidem  gleich  mdl ;  i.e.,  a  man  who  believes  that  he 
thinks,  and  thinks  that  he  believes ;  but  both  amounts  to 
nothing.  The  Hegelian  School  has  successfully  ridiculed 
common  or  vulgar  rationalism,  and  made  every  scholar  of 
philosophical  pretensions  ashamed  of  it.  But  the  infidel 
wing  of  that  school  has  at  last  relapsed  into  the  same  or  still 
greater  absurdities. 

Note  76,  page  109. 
Compare  DiODORUS  SicuLUS,  BlUi,  Fragm,,  i.  7  ;  Cicero, 
De  natura  deor.^  i.  42 ;  Sextus  Empir.,  Adv.  math.,  ix.  17. 

Note  77,  page  109. 
Dr.  Paulus  was  born  at  Leonberg,  in  the  kingdom  of 
Wiirttemberg,  1761  ;  then  successively  professor  in  different 
universities;  at  last  in  Heidelberg,  where  he  died  in  185 1, 
after  having  long  outlived  himself.  His  rationalistic  exegesis 
is  laid  down  in  his  *'  Commentary  on  the  Gospels"  published 
since  1800;  and  in  his  ^^  Life  of  Jesus,  ^'  1828. 

Note  78,  page  1 10. 

The  rationalistic  interpretation  of  irepLTrarCop  M  rris  ^oXdar- 

a-rjs  (according  to  the  reading  of  the  received  text),  or  ^7r2 

ttJi/  ^d\a<T<Tav  (according  to  the  better  authenticated  reading 

of  the  modern  critical  editions),  in  Matt.  14 :  25,  is  inconsis- 


CEITICAL  NOTES.  1 67 

tent  with  the  context  as  well  as  with  the  expression  in  verse 
29,  irepieTrdrTjcrep  iirl  rk  (/Sara,  and  abandoned  by  all  good 
commentators.  It  is  true  that  the  Greek  preposition  iirl 
with  the  genitive  may  mean,  on  the  hank  of^  but  only  after 
verbs  of  rest^  as  in  John  20:  l,  iirl  rrjs  ^aXda-arjs  ttjs  Tt/3e/)id5os, 
not  after  verbs  of  motion,  as  irepnraTeiv^  and  still  less  with  the 
accusative,  according  to  the  proper  reading  of  the  oldest 
manuscripts. 

Note  79,  page  113. 

Kenan:  *^ Studies  of  Religious  History  and  Criticism,^' 
translated  by  0.  B.  Frothingham.  New  York,  1864.  PP-  170, 
177. 

Note  80,  page  115. 

David  Fkiedrich  Strauss,  Doctor  of  Philosophy,  was  born 
January  27,  1808,  at  Ludwigsburg,  near  Stuttgart,  in  Wiirt- 
temberg,  a  little  kingdom  which  has  produced  an  unusual 
number  of  distinguished  men, — poets  like  Schiller  and  Uhland, 
philosophers  like  Schelling  and  Hegel,  astronomers  like  Kep- 
ler, and  some  of  the  most  orthodox  and  pious  divines,  as 
Bengel  and  Storr,  but  also  the  very  leaders  of  both  the  com- 
mon and  transcendental  rationalism,  viz.,  Paulus,  Baur,  and 
Strauss.  Dr.  Baur,  Professor  of  Church  History  in  Tiibingen, 
who  died  i860,  was  the  founder  of  the  so-called  Tubingen 
School  of  negative  historical  criticism,  which  aimed  at  a 
radical  reconstruction  of  the  history  of  primitive  Christianity, 
on  the  basis  of  a  pantheistic  (Hegelian)  intellectualism.  He 
is,  upon  the  whole,  the  ablest  and  most  respectable  of  all  the 
opponents  of  Christianity.  It  was  mainly  under  his  instruc- 
tion that  Strauss  was  educated,  and  unfitted  for  the  Christian 
ministry,  at  the  University  of  Tiibingen.  He  was  the  first  in 
his  class,  and  exhibited  unusual  talent  and  industry.  After 
a  literary  journey  to  the  north  of  Germany,  he  became  Repe- 
tent,  or  theological  tutor  and  lecturer,  at  the  Stift  (Seminary) 
of  his  Alma  Mater  ;  but  was  removed  from  this  post  and  the 
service  of  the  Church  in  1836,  after  the  publication  of  his  first 
*'^  Life  of  JesxLS,"  which  created  an  extraordinary  sensation  in 
the  theological  and  literary  world.  Since  that  time  he  led  a 
rather  unsteady  and  apparently  unhappy  life  in  different 
places,  —  at  Ludwigsburg,  Stuttgart,  Heilbronn,  Weimar, 
Cologne,  Munich,  and  again  at  Heilbronn,  Darmstadt,  and 
Ludwigsburg.    He  was  married  to  a  famous  actress,  Agnese 


1 63  THE   PERSON   OF   CHrvIST. 

Schebest ;  "but  was  shortly  afterwards  divorced  from  her,  on 
account  of  incompatibility  of  temper.  In  1839  he  was  called 
to  a  professorship  of  didactic  theology  at  the  University  of 
Zurich,  but  was  prevented  from  taking  possession  of  his  chair 
by  a  revolution  of  the  people  of  the  canton,  who  stormed  the 
city,  and  expelled  the  radical  and  infidel  administration  which 
had  called  him  to  undermine  the  very  foundations  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith  in  the  rising  ministry  of  the  Church.  He  wrote  a  de- 
structive system  of  theology,  several  biographies,  of  Hutten, 
Schubei-t,  Reimarus,  Voltaire,  literary  and  political  essays,  a 
new  Life  of  Jesus, and  a  work  on  "The  Old  and  the  New  Faith" 
(1873),  wherein  he  professed,  shortly  before  his  death,  his  con- 
version from  ideal  pantheism  to  a  dreary  materialism  with- 
out God  and  without  hope.  In  several  poems  of  cold  classic 
finish,  written  under  severe  physical  pain,  he  reveals  the  resig- 
nation of  a  Stoic  philosopher.  He  died  in  his  native  town, 
Ludwigsburg,  1874.  His  friend,  Edward  Zeller,  Professor  of 
Philosophy  in  Berlin,  and  son-in-law  of  Dr.  Baur,  wrote  a 
memoir,  and  edited  his  works.  Hausrath  prepared  an  ex- 
tensive biography. 

Strauss  was  a  good  classical  and  general  scholar,  and  a 
master  in  the  art  of  composition.  He  had  a  clear,  methodical, 
logical,  and  acute  mind,  a  rare  power  of  critical  anal^^sis,  and 
a  trenchant  style,  but  no  constructive  genius.  He  was  a  skilful 
''architect  of  ruin."  When  a  student,  he  was  quite  super- 
stitious, and  believed  in  the  ghost  stories  and  demoniacal 
possessions  which  then  agitated  Wiirttemberg,  and  clustered 
around  his  friend,  the  amiable  and  humorous  poet-physician 
and  ghost-seer,  Justinus  Kerner  of  Weinsberg  (who,  by  the 
way,  called  Strauss's  marriage  and  subsequent  divorce  a  mere 
"myth,"  and  played  many  good-humoured  jokes  on  him). 
This  is  a  striking  illustration  of  the  close  affinity  of  super- 
stition and  infidelity,  and  the  easy  transition  from  one  to  the 
other.  We  have  the  same  law  exemplified  on  a  large  scale 
in  the  close  alliance  between  infidelity  and  modern  spiritual- 
ism falsely  so  called.  Man  must  believe  in  something ;  either 
in  the  true  God  or  in  dumb  idols,  either  in  the  Holy  Ghost  or 
in  spectres. 

The  first  and  larger  "  Lehen  Jesu  "  of  Strauss  appeared  at 
Tiibingen  in  1835  and  1836,  in  two  volumes;  the  fourth,  and 
probably  the  last,  edition  in  1840;  and  was  translated  into 


CRITICAL   NOTES.  1 69 

French  by  iSmile  Littr^,  member  of  the  Institute  (Paris,  2d  ed. 
1856),  and  into  English  by  Miss  Marian  Evans  ("George 
Eliot,"  London,  1846,  in  three  volumes ;  republished  in  New 
York  by  some  obscure  house,  1850).  The  smaller  work  under 
the  same  title,  in  'one  volume  of  633  pages,  appeared  at  Leip- 
zig in  1864,  and  passed  through  several  editions.  While 
the  first  was  intended  exclusively  for  learned  readers,  the 
second  is  more  popular  {fur  das  deutsche  Volk  hearheitet,  as 
the  title-page  says),  and  aims  to  be  the  same  for  the  Ger- 
man people  that  Kenan's  *'  Vie  de  Jesus''  was  for  the  French, 
although  it  is  as  far  below  the  latter  in  easy  elegance  and 
popularity  as  it  is  above  it  in  scholarship  and  accuracy.  He 
dedicated  it  to  the  memory  of  his  deceased  brother,  as  Kenan 
dedicated  his  work  to  the  memory  of  his  deceased  sister. 
With  slight  modifications,  he  adheres  to  his  old  position, 
with  increased  bitterness  to  the  clergy  and  the  Church,  whom 
he  gives  up  hopelessly,  turning  to  the  people,  and  assuming 
the  part  of  a  theological  deserter  and  spiritual  demagogue. 
He  has  the  impudence,  in  the  preface  (page  12),  to  appeal  to 
the  example  of  St.  Paul,  who,  after  being  rejected  by  the 
Jews,  ofiiered  the  gospel  to  the  Gentiles.  He  hopes  that  the 
annihilation  of  the  popular  faith  in  miracles  will  overthrow  at 
last  the  Christian  ministry,  as  a  useless  and  even  injurious 
encumbrance  of  society  in  the  present  advanced  state  of  civil- 
isation. **  Wer  die  P faff  en  aus  der  Kirche  schaffen  willy''^ 
he  says  (preface,  page  9),  **  der  muss  erst  das  Wunder  aus  der 
Religion  schaffen.^^  The  nature  of  the  religion  or  philosophy 
which  he  would  like  to  substitute  for  a  supernatural  Chris- 
tianity may  be  judged  from  his  undisguised  denial  of  the 
immortality  of  the  soul.  He  praises  his  deceased  brother,  iu 
the  words  of  dedication,  for  having  never  yielded,  not  even 
on  his  death-bed,  to  the  deceitful  temptation  of  deriving  com- 
fort from  the  empty  dream  of  another  world.  *'  Z>w  hast,^^  he 
says,  '^selbst  in  solchen  Atigenblicken,  ivojede  Lehenshoffnung 
erloschen  war,  niemals  der  Versiichung  uachgegehen,  durch 
Anlehnen  an^s  Jenseits  dich  zu  tdusehenV  This  philosophy 
of  death  was  well  characterised,  at  the  appearance  of  his  first 
^^LehenJesu,*' m  the  lines  of  Gustav  Schwab,  the  Swabian  poet: 

"  Ich  bin  der  Weg,  die  Wahrheit  und  das  Lehen, 
Sprach  Der,  den  Gott  zum  Fiihrer  uns  gegeben ; 
Doch  wie  spricht  der,  mit  dem  ihr  uns  bedroht? 
Ich  bin  der  Weg,  die  Wahrheit  und  der  Tod." 

22 


I/O  THE   PERSON   OF   CHUIST. 

The  mythical  theory  of  Strauss  has  been  refuted,  first 
positively,  by  Neander,  Lange,  Tholuck,  Ebrard,  and  other 
Biblical  scliolars,  who  met  his  ^^  Life  of  Jesus  ^'  with  suc- 
cessful vindications  of  the  gospel  history  ;  negatively  also  by 
Baur,  Schwegler,  Keim,  and  other  advanced  critics  of  the 
Tiibingen  School,  who  derive  the  Gospels  and  Epistles,  not 
from  the  unconscious  myth-producing  faculty  of  the  early 
Christians,  but  from  conscious  and  antagonistic  religious 
tendencies  of  the  fermenting  Pauline  and  post- apostolic  age 
which  resulted  at  last  in  the  formation  of  Catholic  Chris- 
tianity. 

But  Strauss  himself  has  furnished  the  most  eflfective  refu- 
tation of  his  ^^  Life  of  Jesus'^  in  his  own  last  work,  *'  The  Old 
and  the  New  Faith^""  which  contains  his  dying  creed  of  des- 
pair. Here  he  cast  off  all  half-way  measures,  and  even  the 
last  concessions  he  had  formerly  made  to  Christ  and  the 
Christian  faith.  Beginning  as  a  Hegelian,  he  ended  as  a 
Darwinian ;  from  the  empyrean  of  idealism,  he  sank  down  to 
the  slough  of  materialism,  and  exclianged  his  gospel  of  poetry 
for  the  gospel  of  dirt.  This  is  the  logical  termination  of  infi- 
delity. Compare  an  able  and  searching  criticism  of  "  The 
New  Faith  of  Strauss  ^^  by  my  late  colleague  and  friend,  Dr. 
Henry  B.  Smith,  in  '^ Faith  and  Philosophy,''  New  York, 
1878,  page  443. 

Note  81,  page  115. 

TiiEODOEE  Parker,  born  in  Massachusetts,  18 10  ;  died  in 
Florence,  i860.  *^ Discourse  of  Matters  pertaining  to  Beli' 
gion,''  1849.  Compare  his  review  of  Strauss  in  the  "  Christian 
Examiner,''  for  April  1840.  Mr.  Weiss  makes  out  a  distinc- 
tion between  the  theories  of  Strauss  and  Parker,  but  on  a  par- 
tial misapprehension  of  the  former.  The  difference  lies  more 
in  the  practical  turn  of  the  American  orator  and  the  specula- 
tive turn  of  the  German  student.  Parker  was  an  enthusiast 
for  liberty  and  social  progress  ;  Strauss  was  selfishly  conser- 
vative in  politics,  and  cared  little  for  the  people.  See  ''  LJfe 
and  Correspondence  of  Theodore  Parker,"  hy  John  Weiss, 
New  York,  1864,  2  vols.  ;  and  an  able  review  of  this  work  by 
Professor  NoAH  PoRTER  in  the  ^'  New-Englander"  for  1864, 
page  359  ff". 

Note  82,  page  115. 

The  woid  myth  is  derived  from  the  Greek  verb  iivoj,  to  sliut 


CRITICAL  NOTES.  171 

the  eyes  or  the  lips,  whence  mystery  and  mysticism,  and 
means  speech,  tale,  fable,  fiction  ;  fxrj^o^oyia  is  the  narrative 
of  fabulous  stories  of  the  gods,  mythology.  The  miracles  of 
Christ  have  a  symbolical,  but  no  mythical,  character  ;  they 
imply  a  religious  idea,  and  yet  they  are  facts;  they  are  both  true 
and  real.  The  Gospels  move  altogether  on  the  terra  firma  of 
historical  reality.  Compare  George,  '^  My  thus  mid  Sage,'' 
1837,  and  especially  Ullm ANN,  ''  Historisch  oder  Mythisch  ? '' 
1838. 

Note  83,  page  121. 
In  his  new  '*  Lehen  Jesu,"  page  79,  Strauss  says,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  :  ^^  Hier  hat  sogar  die  Einmis- 
chung  philosophischer  Construction  und  bewusster  Dlchtung 
alle  Wahrscheinlichkeit.^' 

Note  84,  page  123. 
Dr.  Baur,  in  the  second  and  revised  edition  of  his  last  im- 
portant work,  on  "  Christianity  and  the  Christian  Church  in  the 
First  Three  Centuries,''  which  appeared  shortly  before  his 
death  (a.  i860),  makes  the  remarkable  concession  that  the 
conversion  of  St.  Paul  remained  at  all  times  an  enigma  to  him, 
which  cannot  be  satisfactorily  solved  by  any  psychological  or 
dialectical  analysis.  **  Keine  weder  psychologische  noch  dia- 
lektische  Analyse  kann  das  innere  Geheimniss  des  Actes  erfor- 
schen,  in  welchem  Gott  seinen  Sohn  in  ihm  enthullte  "  (page  45). 
In  this  connection  he  allows  himself  to  speak  of  the  miracle 
of  the  resurrection,  *  *  which  alone  could  disperse  the  doubts 
of  the  older  apostles,  which  seemed  to  doom  faith  itself  to  the 
eternal  night  of  death  "  {'* das  Wunder  der  Auferstehung,  das 
allein  die  Zweifel  der  dlteren  Apostel  zerstreuen  konnte,  welche 
den  Glauben  selhst  in  die  ewige  Nacht  des  Todes  verstosscn  zu 
miissen  schienerC'  (p.  39).  He  also  speaks  of  the  miracleoi  Paul's 
conversion,  which  appears  the  greater,  since  he,  "  in  the  sudden 
change  from  the  most  violent  enemy  to  the  most  determined 
herald  of  (Christianity,  broke  through  the  barriers  of  Jewish 
particularism,  and  dissolved  it  in  the  universal  idea  of  Chris- 
tianity"  (page  45).  We  honour  the  honesty  of  this  greatest  of 
modern  sceptics,  and  cherish  the  hope  that  he  was  saved  at 
last  from  "the  eternal  night"  of  despair  which  is  the  legiti- 
mate end  of  scepticism.  One  of  his  last  words,  I  am  told, 
was  the  sigh,  "Lord,  grant  unto  me  a  peaceful  end." 


172  THE   PERSON   OF   CHKIST. 

Note  85,  page  127. 
The  same  objection  against  the  theory  of  fiction  was  already 
raised  by  the  infidel  RousSEAU,  in  his  ^' Emile^''  L.  iv.  p.  in  : 
^^  Jamais  des  auteurs  juifs  n'eussent  trouv6  ni  ce  ton,  ni  cette 
morale ;  et  Vevangile  a  des  caracteres  de  v6rit6  si  grands,  si 
frappants,si parfaitement  ini7nitahles,  que  Vinventeuren  serait 
plus  Honnant  que  le  Mros.'^  Theodore  Parker,  in  arguing 
against  the  total  denial  of  the  existence  of  Jesus,  which  no 
sane  man  ever  ventured  upon,  supplies  an  argument  against 
the  partial  denial:  "Measure  Jesus  by  the  shadow  he  has 
cast  into  the  world ;  no,  by  the  light  he  has  shed  upon  it. 
Shall  we  be  told  such  a  man  never  lived  ?  the  whole  story  is 
a  lie  ?  Suppose  that  Plato  and  Newton  never  lived.  But  who 
did  their  works,  and  thought  their  thought  ?  It  takes  a  New- 
ton to  forge  a  Newton.  What  man  could  have  fabricated  a 
Jesus  ?  None  but  a  Jesus."  Even  Renan  himself,  unmindful 
of  his  theory,  says,  *^  Life  of  Jesus,''"'  chap,  xxviii.  p.  367  :  **  Far 
from  having  been  created  by  his  disciples,  Jesus  appears  in 
all  things  superior  to  his  disciples.  They,  St.  Paul  and  St. 
John  excepted,  were  men  without  talent  or  genius.  .  .  .  Upon 
the  whole,  the  character  of  Jesus,  far  from  having  been  em- 
bellished by  his  biographers,  has  been  belittled  by  them." 
What  a  pity  that  the  world  had  to  wait  eighteen  hundred 
years  for  a  restoration  of  the  true  picture  of  Jesus  from  the 
imperfect  and  distorted  fragments  of  his  ignorant  disciples  ! 

Note  86,  page  129. 
Goethe,  in  his  "  Conversations  with  Echermann"  (vol.  iii. 
371),  fully  acknowledges  the  genuineness,  credibility,  and  in- 
comparable majesty  of  the  Gospels.  (See  Appendix.)  GuizoT, 
in  his  ^*  Meditations,''^  premiere  s^rie,  p.  252,  makes  the  follow- 
ing truthful  remarks  on  them  :  *'The  mighty  power  of  these 
books  and  their  accounts  have  been  tested  and  proved.  The/ 
have  overcome  paganism ;  they  have  conquered  Greece,  Rome, 
and  barbarous  Europe  ;  they  are  on  the  way  of  conquering 
the  world.  And  the  sincerity  of  the  authors  is  no  less  certain 
than  the  power  of  the  books.  We  may  contest  the  learning 
and  critical  sagacity  of  the  first  historians  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
but  it  is  impossible  to  contest  their  good  faith  ;  it  shines  from 
their  words  :  they  believed  what  they  said ;  they  sealed  their 
assertions  with  their  blood." 


CRITICAL  NOTES.  1 73 

Note  87,  page  129. 
This  argument  has  been  used,  with  reference  to  Hume, 
by  Archbishop  WhaTELY,  in  his  ^^  Historic  Doubts  relative 
to  Napoleon  Bonaparte,^^  Oxford,  1821  ;  and  against  Strauss 
(which  means  Ostrich)  by  Dr.  WUEM  (under  the  name  of 
Cas2iar,  i.e.,  Cassowary,  a  cousin  to  the  ostrich),  in  his  "  Life 
of  Luther  "  1836,  but  dated  Mexico,  1936,  a  hundred  years 
after  Strauss's  *^ Life  of  Jesus,"  when  criticism  shall  have 
reached  its  climax  in  the  New  World.  This  clever  parody 
strictly  follows  the  method  of  Strauss,  and  applies  it  to 
the  documents  relating  to  the  life  of  Luther,  which  are  often 
contradictoiy ;  for  instance,  as  to  his  birthplace,  Mohra, 
or  Eisleben,  or  Man sf eld  (compare  Bethlehem  and  Naza- 
reth), and  the  date  and  manner  of  his  conversion  at  Erfurt, 
whether  it  was  brought  about  by  a  duel,  or  by  a  thunderstorm 
and  lightning,  &c.  Professor  Norton,  in  his  ^^  Internal  Evi- 
dences of  the  Gospels,'^  has  likewise  employed  this  weapon 
against  Strauss,  and  by  his  own  process  conclusively  proven 
that  Julius  Csesar  was  never  assassinated. 

Note  88,  page  130. 
Joseph  Ernest  Renan  was  born  Feb.  27,  1823,  at  Treguier 
in  Brittany,  of  humble  parents,  and  educated  for  the 
Roman  Catholic  priesthood  in  the  Theological  Seminary 
of  St.  Sulpice,  at  Paris.  But,  before  taking  orders,  he  was 
compelled  to  leave  this  institution  on  account  of  some  religious 
difficulties  which  his  superiors  were  unable  or  unwilling  to 
solve.  He  then  devoted  himself  to  the  comparative  study  of 
the  Semitic  languages,  for  which  he  endeavoured  to  do  what 
Professor  Bopp  of  Berlin  had  so  successfully  accomplished  for 
the  Indo-Germanic  or  Aryan  family  of  languages.  In  1847,  lie 
gained  the  Volney  Prize  for  an  essay,  since  expanded  into  a 
histoiy  of  the  Semitic  languages,  and  acquired  the  reputation 
of  one  of  the  first  living  Orientalists  of  Euiope.  In  1856,  he 
was  elected  (in  place  of  Augustin  Thierry)  a  member  of  the 
Institute  of  France.  In  i860,  he  was  intrusted  by  Napoleon 
III.  with  a  mission  for  archaeological  explorations  on  the  sup- 
posed sites  of  the  Phoenician  cities,  and  published  the  results 
of  his  investigations  in  an  ample  collection  of  epigraphic 
monuments  from  the  time  of  the  Assyrian  domination  to  that 
of  the  Seleucides.     On  his  return,  he  was  appointed  to  the 


174  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

professorship  of  Hebrew  in  the  College  of  France,  but  lost  his 
position  in  consequence  of  his  inaugural  address,  in  which  he 
boldly  attacked,  in  the  name  of  free  science,  the  traditional 
orthodoxy  of  the  clerical  party,  and  the  dogma  of  the  divinity 
of  Christ. 

Kenan's  "  FVe  de  Jisus"*^  was  prepared,  as  to  its  outline, 
during  his  journey  in  the  East,  at  the  side  of  his  since  departed 
sister,  in  fresh  view  of  the  holy  places,  and  published  at  Paris 
in  1863,  as  the  first  part  of  a  work  (now  finished  in  four 
volumes)  on  the  * '  Origins  of  Christianity ^  It  marks  an  epoch 
in  the  religious  literature  of  France,  and  found  an  unparalleled 
circulation  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  also  in  England 
and  America.  I  have  before  me  the  seventh  edition,  Paris, 
1864.  An  English  translation,  by  Ch.  E.  Wilbour,  appeared 
in  New  York,  1864.  The  book  of  Renan  has  all  the  charm  of  a 
religious  romance,  and  may  have  benefited  many  novel-readers, 
who  never  knew  that  Jesus  was  such  an  interesting  character, 
by  inducing  them  to  study  the  New  Testament.  So  good  has 
no  doubt  come  out  of  evil  also  in  this  case.  But,  as  a  critical 
or  scientific  work,  his  book  has  no  value.  In  the  introduc- 
tion, he  refers,  among  six  works,  mainly  to  the  "X^/b  of 
Jesus  "  by  Strauss,  as  translated  by  Littr^,  for  information  in 
critical  details.  He  contents  himself  with  stating  his  views 
with  oracular  self-assurance,  and  a  show  of  indiscriminate  re- 
ferences to  the  New  Testament  and  the  Talmud,  several  of 
which  prove  the  very  reverse  of  the  assertions  in  the  text. 
Of  the  many  refutations  of  Strauss  he  says  not  a  word.  He 
published  also  a  smaller  edition  of  his  ''Life  of  Jesus"  pre- 
senting him,  as  he  says,  in  ** pure  white  marble"  (in  sugar- 
candy  rather),  without  spot  or  wrinkle,  for  the  edification  of 
the  French  people.  Among  the  many  replies  to  Renan,  I 
mention  those  of  E.  DE  Pep:ssense,  Van  Oosterzee,  Bey- 
scHLAG,  and  Henry  B.  Smith. 

Note  89,  page  131. 
See  Kenan's  essay  on  the  "  Critical  Historians  of  Jesus,** 
in  his  "Studies  of  Religious  History  and  Criticism,^'*  trans- 
lated by  O.  B.  Frothingham,  New  York,  1864,  page  189. 

Note  90,  page  131. 
In  the  essay  just  quoted,  p.  197,  Renan  says  :  "The  legend 


CKITICAL  NOTES.  1/5 

of  the  Buddha  Cakya-Mouni  is  the  one  which,  in  its  mode  of 
formation,  most  resembles  that  of  Christ ;  as  Buddhism  is  the 
religion  which,  in  the  law  of  development,  most  resembles 
Christianity.  '* 

Note  91,  page  131. 
"  ViedeJisus"  (chap.  xv.  p.  172)  :  ^^ LaUgende itait ainsile 
fruit  d'une  grande  conspiration  toute  spontan6e  et  s'dahorait 
autour  de  lui  de  son  vivmit.  Aucun  grand  evenement  de 
Vhistoire  ne  s'est pass6  sans  donner  lieu  d  un  cycle  de  fables, 
et  Jisus  n'eut  pu,  quand  il  reilt  voulu,  couper  court  d  ces 
creations  populaires. " 

Note  92,  page  132. 
**  Studies  of  Religious  History  and  Criticism^^^  &c.,  page  192. 

Note  93,  page  133. 

All  competent  judges  seem  to  agree  in  a  A^ery  low  estimate 
of  the  scientific  and  critical  value  of  Kenan's  hook.  Dr. 
H.  B.  Smith  of  New  York,  in  his  excellent  review  of 
Kenan's  ^^  Life  of  Jesus  ^^  (in  the  ^^  American  Presbyterian 
and  Theological  Review  "  for  January  1864,  page  145),  justly 
remarks:  "In  point  of  learning,  intellect,  and  consistency, 
the  Teutonic  work  of  Strauss  is  immeasurably  superior  to 
the  light  and  airy  French  romance."  The  Bev.  Samuel  J. 
Andrews,  in  the  preface  to  a  new  edition  of  his  '■^  Life  of 
our  Lord  upon  Earth,''  New  York,  1864,  part  vi.,  denies  to 
Kenan's  book  all  critical  value,  and  adds  :  **I  do  not  recall 
any  particular  in  which  it  adds  anything  to  our  knowledge 
of  th§  gospel  history,  even  in  its  external  features :  much 
less  does  it  render  us  any  aid  in  the  understanding  of  its 
higher  meaning." 

Note  94,  page  134. 

*' Jesus  was  a  thaumaturgist  only  at  a  late  period,  and 
against  his  will."  "  He  was  a  miracle- worker  and  an  exorcist 
only  in  spite  of  himself.  Miracles  are  ordinarily  the  work  of 
the  public  even  more  than  of  him  to  whom  they  are  attri- 
buted. .  .  .  The  miracles  of  Jesus  were  a  violence  done  him 
by  his  time,  a  concession  which  the  necessity  of  the  hour 
wrung  from  him.  So  the  exorcist  and  the  miracle-worker 
have  fallen  ;  but  the  religious  reformer  shall  live  for  ever  " 


1/6  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

(Renan,  chap,  xvi.)  '*  Desperate,  pushed  to  extremities,  he  no 
longer  retained  possession  of  himself.  His  mission  imposed 
itself  upon  him,  and  he  obeyed  the  torrent.  As  always 
happens  in  great  and  divine  careers,  he  suffered  the  miracles 
which  public  opinion  demanded  of  him,  rather  than  performed 
them.  Thoroughly  persuaded  that  Jesus  was  a  worker  of 
miracles,  Lazarus  and  his  two  sisters  may  have  aided  in  the 
performance  of  one  [the  apparent  resurrection  of  Lazarus],  as 
so  many  pious  men,  convinced  of  the  truth  of  their  religion, 
have  sought  to  triumph  over  human  obstinacy  by  means  of 
the  weakness  of  which  they  were  well  aware.  The  state  of 
their  conscience  was  that  of  the  Stigmatists,  the  Convulsion- 
ists,  the  Observed  Nuns,  led  on  by  the  influence  of  the  world 
in  which  they  live,  and  by  their  own  belief  in  the  pretended 
acts.  As  to  Jesus,  he  had  no  more  power  than  St.  Bernard 
or  St.  Francis  d'Assisi  to  moderate  the  avidity  of  the  multi- 
tude and  of  his  own  disciples  for  the  marvellous.  Death, 
moreover,  was  in  a  few  days  to  restore  to  him  his  divine 
liberty,  and  to  snatch  him  from  the  fatal  necessities  of  a 
character  which  became  each  day  more  exacting,  more 
difficult  to  sustain"  (chap,  xxii.)  So  Jesus  lent  himself 
an  instrument  to  a  pious  fraud.  Of  course,  it  would  not  be 
in  keeping  with  French  politeness  or  ordinary  prudence  to 
say,  in  plump  terms,  that  Christ  was  an  impostor ;  but  the 
insinuation  is  clear  enough  for  any  reflecting  reader. 

Note  95,  page  135. 
At  the  close  of  chap.  xxvi.  (page  308  of  the  French 
original):  *' Son  corps  avait-il  6te  enlev4,  ou  hien  Venthon- 
siasme,  toujours  credide,  fit-il  iclore  aprts  coup  Vensemhle  de 
r6citspar  lesquels  on  chercha  d  itahlir  lafoi  d  la  resurrection  ? 
Cest  ce  que,  faute  de  documents  contradictoires~\yfh\Qh  the 
American  translation,  page  357,  has  softened  into,  *for  want 
of  peremptory  evidence  '] — nous  ignorerons  d  jamais.  Disons 
cependant  que  la  forte  imagination  de  Marie  de  Magdala  • 
joua  dans  cette  circonstance  un  role  capital.  Pouvoir  divin 
de  V amour  !  moments  sacrts  ou  la  passion  d'une  hallucinee 
donne  au  monde  un  Dieu  ressusciti  !  " 

Note  96,  page  136. 
The  reader  will  hardly  believe  it,  until  he  reads  the  pas- 


CRITICAL  NOTES.  1 77 

sage  in  *'  Vie  de  J^sus/'  chap,  xxiii.,  which  we  reluctantly 
copy:  '*Did  he  [Christ  in  Gethsemane]  recall  the  clear 
fountains  of  Galilee  where  he  might  have  refreshed  himself ; 
the  vineyard  and  fig-tree  under  which  he  might  have  been 
seated  ;  les  jetmes  Jilles  qui  auraient  peiit-Hre  consenti  d  V ai- 
mer ?  Maudit-il  son  dpre  destinee^  qui  lui  avait  interdit  les 
joies  conc6d6es  d  tous  les  autres  ?  Megretta-t-il  sa  trop  haute 
nature  J  et,  victime  de  sa  grandeur,  pleura-t-il  de  n'etrepas  i^este 
un  simple  artisan  de  Nazareth  ?  "  Renan  most  arbitrarily 
places  the  scene  in  Gethsemane  several  days  before  the  night 
of  the  passion,  contrary  to  the  unanimous  testimony  of  the 
Synoptical  Gospels  as  well  as  the  inherent  probability  of 
the  case.  But  the  opinions  of  this  frivolous  critic  on  such 
subjects  are  worth  nothing  at  all.  The  maidens  of  Galilee 
and  Judsea  figure  prominently  in  his  Life  of  Jesus,  and 
make  it  the  more  palatable  to  novel-readers.  In  chap.  v. 
(page  52  of  the  original,  page  102  of  the  English  translation) 
occurs  the  following  passage:  **An  his  power  to  love  was 
transferred  to  what  he  considered  his  celestial  vocation. 
The  extremely  delicate  feeling  {le  sentiment  extrimement 
delicat)  which  we  notice  in  him  towards  women  never 
departed  from  the  exclusive  devotion  which  he  had  to  his 
idea.  He  treated  as  sisters,  like  Francis  d'Assisi  and  Francis 
de  Sales,  those  women  who  were  enamoured  with  the  same 
work  as  he  :  he  had  his  St.  Claires,  his  Frangoises  de  Chantal. 
Only  it  is  probable  that  they  loved  him  more  than  the  work. 
He  >vas  undoubtedly  more  loved  than  loving.  As  often 
happens  in  very  lofty  natures,  tenderness  of  heart  was  in 
him  transformed  into  an  infinite  sweetness,  a  vague  poetry,  a 
universal  charm.  His  relations,  intimate  and  free,  but  of  an 
entirely  moral  order,  with  women  of  equivocal  conduct  {avec 
des  femmes  d'une  conduite  Equivoque),  are  explained  also  by 
the  passion  which  attached  him  to  the  glory  of  his  Father,  and 
inspired  in  him  a  kind  of  jealousy  of  all  beautiful  creatures 
{une  sorte  de  jalousie  pour  toutes  les  belles  creatures)  who 
might  contribute  to  it."  In  proof  of  this  reckless  and 
frivolous  talk,  Renan  quotes  Luke  7  :  37 ;  John  4  :  7 ;  8  :  3. 
Guizot,  no  doubt  with  reference  to  Renan,  devotes  a  special 
chapter  of  his  ^^  Meditations^^  to  Jesus-Christ  et  les  femmes 
(page  309  fF.),  and  justly  maintains  that  nowhere  is  there  less 
of  man,  and  more  of  God,  than  in  Christ's  relations  with  the 

2Z 


178  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

women  who  apjiroach  him,  and  in  the  ahsolute  purity  which 
characterises  his  sayings  on  adultery  and  on  the  sanctity  of 
the  marriage  relation.  Compare  Matt.  5  :  27,  28  ;  19  :  4-9,  &c. 
It  is  characteristic  of  Renan  that,  in  his  '''Life  of  St.  Paul^'* 
likewise,  he  invents  an  erotic  episode,  and  makes  the  Apostle 
of  the  Gentiles  marry  Lydia  of  Philippi. 


Note  97,  page  137. 

The.  late  Dr.  Henry  B.  Smith  (in  the  article  alluded  to, 
pages  157  and  169,  and  reprinted  in  his  essays,  ^^  Faith  and 
Philosophy,"  New  York,  1878)  thus  severely  but  justly  con- 
demns the  book  of  Renan  :  "  In  passing  judgment  on  such  a 
representation,  there  is  no  need  of  circumlocution  or  eupho- 
nisms.  It  is  utterly  disgraceful  and  disingenuous.  It  assails 
the  very  honesty  and  credibility  of  Jesus.  It  makes  success 
the  standard.  It  is  the  essence  of  Jesuitism.  The  apology 
is  as  superficial  as  it  is  ignominious.  The  worst  ethics  of  the 
French  stage  cannot  surpass  it.  Nobody  but  a  Frenchman 
could,  after  this,  still  idolise  his  hero  as  the  perfection  of 
humanity.  And,  in  the  midst  of  such  profligate  representa- 
tions, to  interject  phrases  about '  our  profound  seriousness,' 
'rigid  conscience,'  and  'absolute  sincerity,'  in  contrast  with 
the  delusions  and  falsity  attributed  to  Jesus,  is  to  carry  to 
its  height  a  base  invention,  from  which  every  right-minded 
man  will  instinctively  recoil,  and  which  every  true  believer 
in  Christ  will  stamp  as  blasphemy.  Better  for  Jesus, — as  a 
mere  man, — a  thousandfold  better,  to  have  died  unknown, 
than  to  have  lent  himself  to  impostures  which  he  must  have 
known  to  be  false,  to  a  conspiracy  founded  on  a  lie  or  a 
hallucination.  But  this  is  not  all,  nor  the  worst.  The  part 
of  the  Messiah  made  it  necessary  that  Jesus  should  also  give 
himself  forth  as  an  'exorcist  and  a  thaumaturge.'  Charla- 
tanry must  complete  the  work  begun  in  hallucination.  .  .  . 
The  Jesus  depicted  by  Renan  is  a  figment  of  naturalism, 
a  conception  that  can  neither  be  imaged  forth  nor  realised. 
It  has  the  outward  forms  and  framework  of  human  life,  but 
within  there  is  not  even  an  immortal  personal  consciousness. 
We  have,  in  the  last  analysis,  only  the  shadow  of  death," 


CRITICAL  NOTES.  1 79 

Note  98,  page  138. 
The  djdng  exclamation  of  Julian  the  Apostate — "  Galiltean, 
thou  hast  conquered  !  " — rests  on  too  late  authorities  to  claim 
credibility,  especially  in  view  of  the  silence  of  the  impartial 
Ammianus  Marcellinus,  who  furnishes  a  full  account  of  the 
last  hours  of  the  emperor ;  hut  it  contains  the  philosophy  of 
his  reign,  and  the  Italian  proverb  may  be  applied  to  it :  Se 
non  e  vero^  e  h»n  trovato. 

Note  99,  page  140. 

See  his  large  *^ Lehen  Jesu^*  Schlussabhandlung,  voL  ii. 
page  (i(>z  (4th  ed.,  1840). 

Note  100,  page  141. 
** In  an  individual,"  says  Strauss,  ^^Leben  JesUy*^  vol.  ii. 
page  710,  *'  in  one  God-man,  the  properties  and  functions  which 
the  church  doctrine  ascribes  to  Christ  contradict  themselves ; 
in  the  idea  of  the  race,  they  agree.  Humanity  is  the  union 
of  the  two  natures, — the  incarnate  God,  the  Infinite  external- 
ising itself  in  the  finite,  and  the  finite  spirit  remembering  its 
infinitude.  It  is  the  child  of  the  visible  mother  and  the  in- 
visible father,  Nature  and  Spirit ;  it  is  the  worker  of  miracles, 
in  so  far  as  in  the  course  of  human  history  the  spirit  more  and 
more  completely  subjugates  nature  both  within  and  around 
man,  until  it  lies  before  him  as  an  inert  matter  of  his  activity ; 
it  is  the  sinlesH  existence,  for  the  course  of  its  development  is 
a  blameless  one  :  pollution  cleaves  to  the  individual  only,  and 
does  not  touch  the  race  or  its  history.  It  is  humanity  that 
dies,  rises,  and  ascends  to  heaven  :  for  from  the  negation  of 
its  natural  life  there  ever  proceeds  a  higher  spiritual  life  ;  from 
the  suppression  of  its  limitation  as  a  personal,  rational,  and 
terrestrial  spirit,  arises  its  union  with  the  infinite  Spirit  of  the 
heavens.  By  faith  in  this  Christ,  especially  in  his  death  and 
resurrection,  man  is  justified  before  God ;  that  is,  by  the 
kindling  within  him  of  the  idea  of  humanity,  especially  by 
the  negation  of  its  natural  and  sensual  aspects,  the  individual 
man  partakes  of  the  divinely  human  life  of  the  species."  The 
popular  ^'  Life  of  Jesus, ^^  by  the  same  author,  concludes  in  a 
similar  manner,  page  627 ;  and  the  same  idea  is  repeated  in 
his  ''The  Christ  ofFaith^  and  tlm  Jesus  of  History  j^'  1865,  which 


I  So  THE   PERSON   OF   CHRIST. 

is  an  appendix  to  his  shorter  ^^  Life  of  Jesus''  But  the  idea 
of  the  union  of  the  human  and  divine  is  no  more  contradictory 
in  an  individual  than  in  the  race.  What  is  true  in  idea  or 
principle  must  also  actualise  itself,  or  be  capable  of  actualisa- 
tion,  in  a  concrete  living  fact.  History  teaches,  moreover, 
that  every  age,  every  great  movement,  and  every  nation,  have 
their  representative  heads,  yAio  comprehend  and  act  out  the 
life  of  the  respective  whole.  This  analogy  points  us  to  a 
general  representative  head  of  the  entire  race, — Adam  in  the 
natural,  and  Christ  in  the  spiritual  order.  The  divine  huma- 
nity of  Strauss  is  like  a  stream  without  a  fountain,  or  like  a 
body  without  a  head,  a  metaphysical  abstraction  and  idle 
delusion.  The  historical  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  the  ideal  Christ. 
In  his  last  book,  on  *'  The  Old  and  New  Faith,^'  Strauss  re- 
nounces all  deceptive  accommodations  and  restraints,  and 
leaves  no  middle  ground  between  hopeless  atheism  and  posi- 
tive historical  Christianity. 


APPENDIX. 


IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES 


TO  THB 


CHARACTER  OP  CHRIST. 


(    183    ) 


INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS. 


We  present,  by  way  of  Appendix  to  our  argument, 
a  number  of  striking  and  remarkable  concessions 
and  testimonies  to  the  perfection  of  Christ's  char- 
acter as  a  man,  from  eminent  writers  who  were 
either  professed  unbelievers  and  sceptics,  or,  at 
least,  free  from  dogmatic  bias,  and  can  therefore 
not  be  suspected  of  partiality.  This  makes  their 
testimony  all  the  more  valuable  for  apologetic 
purposes.  It  is  the  homage  of  their  genius  and 
intellect  to  him  whose  power  and  authority  they 
must  acknowledge  theoretically,  though  they  may 
practically  refuse  to  accept  him  as  their  Lord  and 
Saviour.  Tlie  concession  of  an  enemy,  or  an 
outsider,  sometimes  carries  more  weight  in  an 
argument  than  the  assertion  of  a  friend.  Honey 
may  be  extracted  even  from  a  dead  lion.  "  Out 
of  the  eater  came  forth  meat,  and  out  of  the 
strong  came  forth  sweetness  "  (Judges  14:  14). 
The  testimonies  we  are  going  to  produce  are 


1 84  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

important  and  interesting  in  various  ways.  They 
prove  that  there  is  in  the  inmost  heart  of  man  an 
instinctive  and  growing  reverence  and  admiration 
for  the  spotless  purity  of  Christ.  Infidels  may 
deny  his  miracles,  but  they  cannot  deny  his 
power,  or  assail  his  character,  without  doing 
violence  to  the  better  feelings  and  aspirations  of 
their  own  nature,  and  forfeiting  all  claim  to  the 
moral  respect  of  their  fellow-men.  It  seems  to 
be  felt  that  he  is,  without  controversy,  the  very 
best  being  that  ever  walked  on  this  earth,  and 
that  an  attack  on  his  character  is  an  attack  on 
the  honour  and  dignity  of  humanity  itself.  And 
this  feeling  and  conviction  becomes  stronger  and 
deeper  as  history  advances.  The  impression  of 
Christ  upon  the  world,  far  from  losing  ground,  is 
gaining  new  strength  with  every  stage  of  civilisa- 
tion, and  controls  even  the  best  thinking  of  his 
enemies. 

These  testimonies,  on  the  other  hand,  expose 
also  the  glaring  inconsistency  of  unbelief,  in  ad- 
mitting the  absolute  purity  and  truthfulness  of 
Christ,  and  yet  refusing  his  own  testimony  con- 
cerning himself;  in  praising  his  perfection  as  a 
man,  and  yet  denying  his  Divinity  which  he 
claims  himself,  and  which  alone  can  satisfactorily 
explain  his  human  perfection  in  a  universally 
imperfect  world. 


INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS.      V  ^J^^h^. 

This  inconsistency  was  clearly  brought  f3t,  wiffi^ 
special  reference  to  Eenan,  by  the  distinguished 
French  statesman  and  historian,  M.  Guizot,  who  con- 
secrated the  closing  years  of  his  retreat  from  public 
life  to  the  defence  of  revealed  religion,  in  his 
"Meditations  on  the  Essence  of  the  Christian 
Eeligion,"  where  he  says  :  ^ 

"  Those  who  do  not  believe  in  Jesus,  nor  admit 
the  supernatural  character  of  his  person,  of  his 
life,  and  of  his  work,  are  free  of  this  difficulty  [of 
giving  adequate  expression  in  human  language  to 
the  intimate  and  continual  intermixture  of  the 
divine  and  human  in  Christ].  Having  beforehand 
suppressed  the  divinity  and  the  miracles,  they  see 
in  the  history  of  Jesus  Christ  nothing  more  than . 
an  ordinary  history,  which  they  narrate  and  ex- 
plain like  any  other  biography  of 'man.  But  they 
fall  into  a  far  different  difficulty,  and  wreck  them- 
selves on  a  far  different  rock.  The  supernatural 
being  and  power  of  Jesus  Christ  may  be  disputed ; 
but  the  perfection,  the  sublimity  of  his  actions 
and  of  his  precepts,  of  his  life  and  of  his  moral 
law,  are  incontestable :  and,  in  effect,  not  only  are 
they  not   contested,   but    they   are   admired   and 

1  *'  Meditations  sur  V Essence  de  la  Religion  Chretienne  "  (Paris  and 
Leipzig,  1864,  pp.  324-327).  The  English  translation,  New  York, 
1865  (comp.  p.  335),  omits  the  Scripture  quotations  of  Guizot  from 
the  Latin  Vulgate  (which  are  intended  for  Roman-Catholic 
readers). 

24 


1 86  IMPARTIAL   TESTIMONIES. 

celebrated  entliusiastically  and  complacently.  It 
would  seem  as  if  it  were  desired  to  restore  to 
Jesus  Christ  as  a  mere  man  the  superiority  of 
which  they  deprive  him  in  refusing  to  see  in  him 
the  Godhead.  But  then,  what  incoherence,  what 
contradictions,  what  falsehood,  what  moral  im- 
possibility, in  his  history,  such  as  they  make  it ! 
What  a  series  of  suppositions,  irreconcilable  with 
the  facts  which  they  admit !  This  man  they  make 
so  perfect  and  sublime  becomes  by  turns  a  dreamer 
or  a  charlatan ;  at  once  dupe  and  deceiver, — dupe 
of  his  own  mystical  enthusiasm  in  believing  in 
his  own  miracles,  wilful  deceiver  in  tampering 
with  evidence  in  order  to  accredit  himself.  The 
history  of  Jesus  Christ  is  thus  but  a  tissue  of  fables 
and  falsehood ;  and,  nevertheless,  the  hero  of  this 
history  remains  perfect,  sublime,  incomparable, — 
the  greatest  genius,  the  noblest  heart,  that  the 
world  ever  saw;  the  type  of  virtue  and  moral 
beauty ;  the  supreme  and  rightful  chief  of  mankind. 
And  his  disciples  in  their  turn,  justly  admirable, 
have  braved  everything,  suffered  everything,  in 
order  to  abide  faithful  to  him,  and  to  accomplish 
his  work ;  and,  in  effect,  the  work  has  been  accom- 
plished,— the  Pagan  world  has  become  Christian, 
and  the  whole  world  has  nothing  better  to  do  than 
to  follow  the  example. 

"  What  a  contradictory  and  insolvable  problem 


INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS.  1 8/ 

tliey  present  to  us  instead  of  the  one  they  labour 
so  hard  to  suppress ! 

"History  reposes  upon  two  foundations, — the 
positive  evidence  or  documents  concerning  the 
facts  and  persons,  and  presumptive  evidence  or 
moral  probabilities  resulting  from  the  connection 
of  facts  and  the  action  of  persons.  These  two 
foundations  are  entirely  wanting  in  the  history  of 
Jesus  Christ,  such  as  it  is  related,  or  rather  con- 
structed, in  these  days.  It  is,  on  the  one  hand,  in 
evident  and  shocking  contradiction  with  the  testi- 
mony of  the  men  who  saw  Jesus  Christ,  or  of  the 
men  who  lived  near  those  who  had  seen  him :  on 
the  other  hand,  it  equally  conflicts  with  the 
natural  laws  presiding  over  the  actions  of  men 
and  the  course  of  events.  This  does  not  deserve 
the  name  of  historical  criticism:  it  is  a  philoso- 
phical system  and  a  romantic  narrative  substi- 
tuted for  the  substantial  proof  of  the  moral 
evidence ;  it  is  a  Jesus  false,  and  impossible, 
made  by  the  hand  of  man,  pretending  to  dethrone 
the  real  living  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God.-^ 
.  "  The  choice  lies  between  the  system  and  the 
mystery;  between  the  romance  of  man -and  the 
design  of  God.'' 

^  ^^C'est  un  Jesus-Christ  faux  et  impossible^  fait  de  main 
d'homme^  qui  pretend  a  detrdner  le  Jesus-Christ  riel  et  vivant,  fits 
de  Dieu."  This  applies  especially  to  the  legendary  Jesus  of  Renan, 
even  more  than  to  the  mythical  Jesus  of  Strauss. 


(    188    ) 


IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES  TO  THE 
CHARACTER  OF  CHRIST. 


PONTIUS  PILATE  AND  HIS  WIFE. 

Matt.^27  ;  19,  24. 

"  When  lie  [Pilate]  was  set  down  on  the  judgment- 
seat,  his  wife  seat  unto  him,  saying :  Have  thou 
nothing  to  do  with  THAT  JUST  MAN;  for  I  have 
suffered  many  things  this  day  in  a  dream  because 
of  him. 

"  When  Pilate  saw  that  he  could  prevail  [avail] 
nothing,  but  that  rather  a  tumult  was  made,  he 
took  water,  and  washed  his  hands  before  the 
multitude,  saying :  I  am  innocent  of  the  blood  of 
this  JUST  PERSON ;  see  ye  to  it." 

Note. — It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  a  heathen  woman 
had  the  courage  to  plead  the  cause  of  our  Saviour  when  his 
own  disciples  forsook  him,  and  when  the  Jewish  people  and 
authorities  thirsted  for  his  innocent  blood.  It  is  equally 
remarkable,  that  she  and  her  weak  husband,  clothed  with 
the  authority  of  the  Roman  law  and  justice,  should  charac- 
terise the  condemned  Jesus  as  that  just  man  {diKaios  cKeTvos). 
The  student  of  the  unconscious  prophecies  of  heathenism  will 


THE  CENTURION  AT  THE  CROSS.       1 89 

naturally  connect  this  expression  with  the  famous  passage  in 
I^lato's  BepuhliCy  where  the  great  sage  of  Greece  describes 
the  ideal  of  a  just  man  (5i/catos),  as  one  who,  '*  without  doing 
any  wrong,  may  assume  the  appearance  of  the  grossest 
injustice  {firjdh  yap  ddiKQv  do^av  ix^rcj  rrjs  fJi€yi<TT7)S  ddiKias)  ;" 
yea,  who  * '  shall  be  scourged,  tortured,  fettered,  deprived  of 
his  eyes,  and,  after  having  endured  all  possible  sufferings, 
fastened  to  a  post,  and  who  must  restore  again  the  beginning 
and  prototype  of  righteousness"  (Plato's  Works,  vol.  iv. 
p.  74,  sqq.  ed.  Ast,  p.  360,  E.  ed.  Bip.)  Aristotle  also  says 
of  the  perfectly  just  man,  "that  he  stands  far  above  the 
political  order  and  constitution  as  it  exists ;  that  he  must 
break  it  wherever  he  appears." 

The  prophecies  of  Greek  wisdom,  and  the  majesty  of  the 
Roman  law,  here  unite  in  the.  representative  of  imperial 
Rome  at  Jerusalem,  to  testify  to  the  innocence  and  righteous- 
ness of  Christ  in  the  darkest  hour  of  his  trial  before  wicked 
men.  Pilate  excites  mingled  feelings  of  pity  and  contempt. 
He  washed  his  hands,  but  not  his  heai^t ;  and  in  delivering 
up  Christ,  whom  he  pronounced  innocent  and  just,  he  con- 
demned himself. 


THE  CENTUEIOlSr  AT  THE  CEOSS. 

Matt.  27  :  54.     Comp.  Make  15  :  39. 

**  Now,  when  the  centurion,  and  they  that  were 
with  him  watching  Jesus,  saw  the  earthquake, 
and  those  things  that  were  done,  they  feared 
greatly,  saying :  Truly  this  was  the  [a]  Son  of 
God." 

Luke  23 :  47. 

"  N"ow,  when  the  centurion  saw  what  was  done, 
he  glorified  God,  saying:  Cektainly  this  was  a 

RIGHTEOUS  MAN." 


IQO  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

Note. — The  centurion  here  spoken  of  is  the  one  Avho, 
according  to  Roman  custom,  presided  over  the  execution 
(hence  called  by  Seneca  centurio  supplicio  prcepositus ;  or 
by  Tacitus,  exactor  mortis).  This  centurion,  the  captain  in 
Capernaum  (Matt,  viii.),  and  the  captain  Cornelius aiCsesarea 
(Acts  X.),  form  a  triumvirate  of  believing  Gentile  soldiers  in 
the  New  Testament.  The  confession,  * '  Truly  this  (or  this 
man,  as  Mark  has  it)  was  a  Son  of  God  "  (^eoO  vibs),  may  be 
taken  (with  Meyer)  in  a  polytheistic  sense,  or  equivalent  to 
demigod ;  an  interpretation  which  is  supported  by  the  ab- 
sence of  the  definite  article  before  vlos,  and  by  the  parallel 
passage  of  Luke,  who  substitutes  6i/caios  for  the  S-eoO  uio's 
of  Matthew  and  Mark.  But  Lange  and  Alford  maintain 
that  the  centurion  used  the  expression  in  a  Jewish  or  Chris- 
tian sense,  acknowledging  Jesus  as  the  Messiah.  It  is  by 
no  means  improbable  that  he  was  previously  acquainted  with 
the  Jewish  expectations  and  the  claims  of  Christ, 


JUDAS,  THE  TEAITOE. 

Matt.  27  :  3,  4. 

"Then  Judas,  which  had  betrayed  him,  when 
he  saw  that  he  was  condemned,  repented  himself, 
and  brought  again  [brought  back]  the  thirty 
pieces  of  silver  to  the  chief  priests  and  elders, 
saying :  I  HAVE  sinned,  in  that  I  have  betkayed 

THE  INNOCENT  BLOOD," 

Note. — The  confession  of  the  despairing  traitor — "HfiapTov 
irapadoiis  aifia  d^ibov — may  be  more  concisely  and  pointedly 
translated,  ^' I  sinned  in  betraying  innocent  blood.''  In  con- 
nection with  the  testimony  of  Pilate,  and  that  of  the  San- 
hedrin,  which  could  prefer  no  other  charge  against  Jesus 
than  that  he  had  called  himself  the  Messiah,  this  confession 
amounts  to  a  complete  vindication  of  the  innocence  of  Jesus, 
and  the  justice  of  his  extraordinary  claims.    If  Judas,  from 


FLAVIUS  JOSEPHUS.  I9I 

three  years'  familiar  intercourse,  had  known  anything  in  the 
least  degree  affecting  the  moral  purity  of  his  Master,  he 
would  have  eagerly  availed  himself  of  it  for  Ms  self -justi- 
fication and  peace  of  conscience. 


FLAVIUS  JOSEPHUS. 

From  the  "Antiquities  of  the  Jews," 
Book  xviii.  Chap.  hi.  Sect.  3. 

"About  this  time  lived  Jesus,  a  wise  man,  if  it 
be  proper  to  call  him  a  man ;  for  he  was  a  doer 
of  wonderful  works,^ — a  teacher  of  such  men  as 
receive  the  truth  with  pleasure.  He  drew  over 
to  him  both  many  of  fhe  Jews  and  many  of  the 
Greeks.  He  was  the  Christ.^  And  when  Pilate, 
at  the  instigation  of  the  principal  men  among  us, 
had  condemned  him  to  the  cross,  those  who  had 
loved  him  at  first  did  not  forsake  him.  For  he 
appeared  to  them  alive  again  on  the  third  day;-^ 
the  divine  prophets  having  foretold  these  and  many 
other  wonderful  things  concerning  him.  And  the 
sect  of  Christians,  so  named  after  him,  are  not 
extinct  to  this  day." 

Note. — This  remarkable  testimony  of  the  celebrated  Jewish 
priest  and  historian,  who  flourished  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
first  century,  is  found  in  all  the  known  copies  of  his  works, 
both  printed  and  manuscript ;  it  is  twice  quoted  at  large  by 

^  irapado^wv  ^pyuip  ttoltjt'^s, 

^    6  XpLCTTOS  0^'TOS  ^V. 

*  i^dPT}  yap  aurois  TpiTr]v  ^x^^  7]ixipav   ^Qv, 


192  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

Eusebius,  without  suspicion  of  an  interpolation,  and  is  there- 
fore received  as  genuine  by  many  learned  divines.  It  may 
also  be  urged  in  favour  of  the  passage,  that  Josephus,  in  a 
complete  history  of  the  Jews,  reaching  down  to  A.  D.  66,  and 
written  about  A.  D.  93,  could  not  easily  pass  by  Christ,  especi- 
ally as  he  made  honourable  mention  of  John  the  Baptist  {Arch. 
xviii.  5,  2)  and  James  the  Just  in  other  parts  of  the  same  work. 
In  speaking  of  the  martyr-death  of  James  [Arch.,  book  xx. 
chap,  9,  sect,  i),  he  refers  to  our  passage ;  and  there  are  no 
good  reasons  to  reject  the  passage  on  James,  together  with 
that  on  Christ. 

But  the  majority  of  critics  since  Lardner  reject  the  testi- 
mony in  its  present  form,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  as  an 
early  interpolation  by  some  Christian  hand,  for  the  following 
reasons  : — 

1.  This  paragraph  is  not  noticed  by  any  Christian  writei 
before  Eusebius,  who  died  A.D.  340.  Justin  Martyr,  Clement 
of  Alexandra,  Origen,  TertuUian,  and  other  ante-Nicene 
fathers,  might  and  probably  w(5uld  have  made  good  use  of 
it  in  their  apologetic  and  polemic  works  against  Jews  and 
Gentiles,  if  they  had  known  it. 

2.  The  paragraph  is  not  necessary  for  the  connection,  but 
rather  interrupts  the  course  of  the  preceding  narrative  about 
a  sedition  and  consequent  calamity  of  the  Jews,  which  occurred 
under  Pilate;  and  the  following  narrative  about  *' another 
sad  calamity," — namely,  the  banishment  of  the  Jews  from 
Rome  by  order  of  Claudius.  Josephus  might,  however,  have 
reckoned  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus  among  the  calamities  of  the 
Jews. 

3.  The  disputed  passage  is  inconsistent  with  the  whole 
character  and  position  of  Josephus.  He  could  not  have  thus 
written  of  Christ,  without  being,  in  theory  or  in  conviction,  a 
Christian,  and  belying  his  profession  as  a  Jewish  priest  and 
Pharisee.  But  Josephus,  it  is  urged  against  this  argument, 
may  have  been  inconsistent  in  this  as  he  was  in  other  things. 
Though  learned  and  eminent,  he  was  contemptibly  weak  in 
character ;  and  showed  in  all  his  positions,  as  a  Jewish  priest 
and  magistrate,  and  as  a  Roman  general  and  courtier,  a 
worldly  mind,  and  an  easy  disposition  to  accommodate  himself 
to  different  stations  and  employments,  even  at  the  sacrifice  of 
principle. 


FLAVIUS  JOSEPHUS.  193 

In  view,  then,  of  the  great  improbahility  of  an  absolute 
silence  of  Josephus  on  the  history  of  Christ,  and  the  still 
greater  improbability  of  such  a  Christian  testimony  from  his 
pen,  the  hypothesis  becomes  quite  plausible,  that  Josephus, 
like  the  Pharisees  and  scribes  in  the  Gospels  and  the  compilers 
of  the  Jewish  Talmud,  represented  Jesus  as  a  pseudo -prophet 
and  magician,  who  performed  miracles  by  Beelzebub,  but  that 
a  Christian  changed  the  offensive  passage  at  an  early  time, 
before  Eusebius,  into  its  present  shape  and  form.  This  is 
substantially  the  view  of  the  great  Oriental  scholar,  Ewald. 

Renan,  in  his  "Life  of  Jesus,"  goes  further,  and  considers 
the  passage  authentic,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  changes, 
as  XpL(TTbs  oSros  ^v  (he  was  the  Christ),  for  the  supposed  origi- 
nal non-committal  sentence,  Xpia-rbs  ovtos  iX^ycTo  (he  was 
called  the  Christ).  "  Je  crois,"  he  says  {Vie  de  JesuSy  Intro- 
duction, p.  xii.),  ^^U  passage  sur  Jesus  authentique.  II  est 
parfaitement  dans  le  gout  de  Jos^phe,  et  si  cet  historien  a  fait 
mention  de  Jesus,  c'est  Men  comme  cela  qyCil  a  du  en  parler. 
On  sent  seulement  gu^une  main  chrUienne  a  retouche  le  morceau, 
y  a  ajoutt  quelques  mots  sans  lesquels  il  eut  6t6  presque  hlaspM- 
matoire,  et  peutitre  retranche,  ou  modifii  quelques  expressions.'' 

The  literature  on  this  much-disputed  passage,  see  in  Haver- 
'  camp's  edition  of  ^^  Josephus^'  vol.  ii.  Appendix  ;  in  Hase's 
*^Life  of  Jesus,''  sect.  lo,  p.  12  (fourth  ed.) ;  in  "Winer's 
**Bibl.  Realworterhuch, "  vol.  i.  p.  558  (third  ed.)  Compare  also 
Ewald,  **Geschichte  Christtis\"  pp.  104-107;  Paret,  art. 
•*  Josephus"  in  Herzog's  Theol,  Encyclop. ;  Keim,  "  Geschichte 
Jem  von  Nazara''  i.  11-15  ;  Schuzer,  N.  T.  Zeitgesch.,  p.  2S7. 

In  many  respects,  the  writings  of  Josephus  contain,  indi- 
rectly, much  valuable  testimony  to  the  truth  of  the  gospel 
history.  His  **  History  of  the  Jewish  War  "  is  undesignedly  a 
striking  commentary  on  the  predictions  of  our  Saviour  con- 
cerning the  destruction  of  the  city  and  the  Temple  of  Jerusa- 
lem ;  the  great  distress  and  affliction  of  the  Jewish  people  at 
that  time ;  the  famine,  pestilence,  and  earthquake ;  the  rise 
of  false  prophets  and  impostors,  and  the  flight  of  his  disciples 
at  the  approach  of  these  calamities.  All  these  coincidences 
have  been  traced  out  in  full  by  the  learned  Dr.  Lardner,  in 
his  "Collection  of  Ancient  Jewish  and  Heathen  Testimonies 
to  the  Truth  of  the  Christian  Religion  "  {see  vol.  vi  p.  406  of 
his  Works,  ed.  by  Kippis,  Lond.  1838). 

25 


194         IMPAETIAL  TESTIMONIES. 


THE  TALMUD. 


The  Talmud  (I^Q^JT),  i.e.,  Doctrine.,  Booh  of  Dog- 
trines,  Corpus  Doctrince),  that  immense  depository 
of  Jewish  theology  and  jurisprudence,  of  Eabbi- 
nical  wisdom  and  folly,  embracing  twelve  large  folio 
volumes,  has  very  little  to  say  about  Christ  and 
his  religion,  which  is  the  fulfilment  of  the  Law  and 
the  Prophets,  and  without  which  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  a  sealed  book. 

The  first  part,  called  the  Mishna  {i.e.,  Bepetition, 
viz.,  of  the  law),  which  comprehends  the  oral  tradi- 
tions and  Eabbinical  expositions  of  the  law  from 
about  400  before  to  about  200  after  Christ's  birth, 
ignores  Christianity,  although  it  includes  the  say- 
ings of  many  Eabbins  of  the  first  century,  and  was 
composed,  according  to  Dr.  Jost,  about  the  year 
230,  in  the  city  of  Tiberias,  on  the  Lake  of  Galilee, 
the  region  where  Jesus  lived  and  taught. 

The  second  part  of  the  Talmud,  called  the  Gemara 
(i.e.,  Conclusion,  viz.,  of  Eabbinical  wisdom),  or  the 
Talmud  proper,  is  a  vast  collection  of  the  Eabbi- 
nical expositions  of  the  Mishna,  which  again  became 
a  subject  of  investigation  and  interpretation.  There 
are  two  Gemaras, — that  of  Jerusalem,  compiled 
in  Palestine  about  A.D.  390;  and  that  of  Babylon, 
compiled  about  a.d.   500,  under   the  supervision 


THE   TALMUD.  1 95 

of  the  Patriarch  of  Babylon.  Both  these  Gemaras 
— the  Palestinian  and  the  Babylonian — allude  to 
Jesus  and  the  apostles,  but  very  briefly,  and  in  a 
bitter  and  malignant  spirit ;  they  admit  the  miracles 
of  Jesus,  but  derive  them  from  evil  spirits,  like 
the  Pharisees  in  the  Gospels.-^  According  to  the 
Gemara,  Jesus  was  the  illegitimate  son  of  Mary  (a 
hairdresser)  and  a  man  variously  called  Stada,  Pan- 
dera,^  and  Pappus  (a  soldier) ;  learned  the  magical 
arts  in  Egypt,  practised  them  in  Palestine ;  and 
for  this  reason,  as  well  as  for  seducing  and  instigat- 
ing the  Israelites,  he  was  crucified  on  the  day  pre- 
ceding the  Passover.  We  have  here  evidently  a 
malignant  perversion  and  indirect  admission  of 
the  facts  of  the  supernatural  conception,  the  flight 
to  Egypt,  the  miracles,  and  the  crucifixion  of  our 
Saviour. 

At  a  later  period,  the  Jewish  hatred  of  Chris- 
tianity produced  an  infamous  book,  entitled  "  ToU 
doth  Jeschu"  i.e.,  the  " Birth  or  History  of  Jesus," 
where    the    Talmudic     tradition,    especially    the 

^  The  passages  of  the  Talmud  relating  to  Christ  are  collected  in 
Lardner's  work  already  quoted;  and  in  Scheidii,  ^'' Loca  Talmudica, 
in  quihus  Jesu  et  discipulorum  ejus  fit  mentio  ;  "  also  in  Meelfuhreb, 
*^  Jesus  in  Tulmude,"  Altdorf,  1699,  2  vols. 

2  This  Pandera,  who  figures  also  in  the  book  of  Celsus,  and  in 
Toldoth  Jeschu  (where  he  is  called  Joseph  Pandera),  is  no  doubt  a 
name  of  hatred  and  contempt  invented  by  the  Jews,  and  means 
either  scourge;  or,  like  the  Greek  irdv^'qp,  and  the  Latin  lupa,  it  is 
synonymous  with  ravenous  lust^  and  hence  used  as  a  symbolical 
name  for  adultery. 


ig6  IMPAKTIAL   TESTIMONIES. 

wretched  slander  about  the  birth  of  our  Saviour, 
and  the  most  absurd  fables,  are  related  with  malig- 
nant hatred.  Even  according  to  this  miserable 
production,  Christ  performed  miracles ;  not,  how- 
ever, by  an  art  acquired  in  Egypt,  as  the  Talmud 
and  Celsus  assert,  but  by  pronouncing  the  holy 
name  of  Jehovah,  which  was  a  secret  known  only 
to  the  founder  of  Christianity.-^ 

In  a  very  different  sense,  Christ  has  indeed  made 
known  the  name  of  the  only  true  and  living  God. 
Among  the  better  and  more  enlightened  class  of 
modern  Jews,  the  opinion  seems  to  be  gaining 
ground  that  Jesus  of  ISTazareth  was  the  Messiah  of 
the  Gentiles,  to  be  followed  by  the  true  Messiah  of 
the  Jews.  But  the  majority  of  the  Eeform  Jews  are 
,  Deist's,  and  substitute  their  nationality  for  religion. 


THE  HEATHEN  WEITEES  AGAINST 
CHEISTIANITY. 

The  Greek  and  Eoman  writers  of  the  first  five 
centuries  took,  upon  the  whole,  very  little  notice 
of  Christ  and  Christianity,  and  were  mostly  quite 
ignorant  of  their  character  and  history.  Tacitus, 
Suetonius,  the  Younger  Pliny,  Epictetus,  Lucian, 

^  There  are  two  very  different  versions  of  this  book  :  the  one 
published  by  Wagenseil,  under  the  title,  "  Tela  ignea  S atari ce  ;  hue 
est,  arcani  et  horribiles  Judceorum  adversus  Christum  Deum  et 
christianam  reUgionem  anecdotij"  Altdovi,  1681 ;  the  other,  edited 
by  Huldreich,  Leyden,  1705. 


TACITUS.  197 

Aristides,  Galenus,  Lampridius,  Dio  Cassius,  Hi- 
merius,  Libanius,  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  Euna- 
pius,  and  Zosimus,  mention  them  incidentally,  and 
generally  with  contempt  or  hatred.  The  only 
heathen  authors  who  wrote  special  works  against 
the  Christian  religion  are  Lucian  (who  assailed  it 
at  least  indirectly),  Celsus,  Porphyry,  Hierocles, 
and  Julian  the  Apostate. 

But  even  the  incidental  allusions  of  the  former 
and  the  assaults  of  the  latter  contain  much  that 
tends  to  confirm  the  credibility  of  the  gospel 
history  and  the  miracles  of  Christ.  Let  us  briefly 
sum  up  the  chief  references."^ 


TACITUS. 

Tacitus  (who  lived  in  the  second  half  of  the 
first  and  the  first  quarter  of  the  second  century), 
in  giving  an  account  of  the  Neronian  persecution 
of  the  Christians  at  Kome,  which  occurred  A.D. 
64,^  incidentally  attests  that  Christ  was  put  to 
death  as  a  malefactor  by  Pontius  Pilate  in  the 
reign  of  Tiberius ;  that  he  was  the  founder  of  the 
Christian  sect;  that  the  latter  took  its  rise  in 
Judaea,  and   spread,   in  spite   of  the  ignominious 

^  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  the  heathen  attacks  on  Christianity 
the  reader  is  referred  to  the  author's  "History  of  the  Christian 
Church/'  New  York,  vol.  i.  p.  185  ff. 

2  AnnaleSj  lib.  xv.  c.  44. 


198  IMPARTIAL   TESTIMONIES. 

death  of  Christ,  and  the  hatred  and  contempt  it 
encountered  throughout  the  empire,  so  that  a  vast 
multitude  (muUitudo  ingens)  of  them  were  most 
cruelly  put  to  death  in  the  city  of  Eome.  He 
clearly  intimates  that  they  were  entirely  innocent 
of  the  crime  laid  to  their  charge  by  ISTero,  who  him- 
self set  the  city  on  fire  (to  enjoy  the  spectacle  of 
burning  Troy),  and  wickedly  made  the  Christians 
responsible  for  it. 

Tacitus  bears  also  valuable  testimony,  together 
with  Josephus,  from  whom  he  mainly,  though  not 
exclusively,  takes  his  account,  to  the  fulfilment  of 
Christ's  prophecy  concerning  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  Jewish  people/ 


PLINY. 

Pliny  the  Younger,  a  contemporary  and  friend 
of  Tacitus  and  the  Emperor  Trajan,  in  his  famous 
Letter  to  Trajan,  about  107,  bears  testimony  to 
the  rapid  spread  of  Christianity  in  Asia  Minor  at 
that  time  among  all  ranks  of  society ;  the  general 
moral  purity'  and  steadfastness  of  its  professors 
amid  cruel  persecution ;  their  mode  and  time  of 
worship;  their  adoration  of  Christ  as  God;  their 
observance  of  a  "  stated  day,"  which  is  undoubt- 
edly Sunday ;  and  other  facts  of  importance  in  the 

1  In  the  fifth  book  of  his  History, 


CELSUS.  199 

early  history  of  the  Church.  Trajan's  rescript,  in 
reply  to  Pliny's  inquiry,  furnishes  evidence  of  the 
innocence  of  the  Christians.  He  notices  no  charge 
against  them  except  their  disregard  of  the  worship 
of  the  gods,  and  forbids  them  to  be  sought  after. 


CELSUS. 

Celsus,  a  Grecian  eclectic  philosopher  of  the 
second  century,  is  the  first  heathen  author  who  wrote 
an  express  work  against  Christianity.  It  bears 
the  title,  "  A  True  Discourse."  Origen,  in  his  able 
and  effective  refutation,  has  faithfully  preserved  the 
principal  portions  of  it  in  the  author  s  own  lan- 
guage."^' Celsus  employs  all  the  aids  which  the 
culture  of  his  age  afforded — the  weapons  of  learn- 
ing, philosophy,  common  sense,  wit,  sarcasm,  and 
dramatic  animation  of  style — to  disprove  and  ridi- 
cule Christianity  and  its  followers.  He  combines  the 
hatred  of  Judaism  and  the  contempt  of  heathenism, 
and  anticipates  most  of  the  arguments  and  sophisms 
of  the  Deists  and  ^N'aturalists  of  later  times. 

And  yet  even  this  able  infidel  assailant,  who 
lived  almost  within  hailing  distance  of  the  apos- 
tolic age,  bears  witness,  as  St.  Chrysostom  already 

^  Professor  Keim,  the  author  of  *'The  History  of  Jesus  of  Na- 
zara,''  has  reconstructed  the  work  of  Celsus  from  these  fragmecta. 


200  IMPARTIAL   TESTIMONIES. 

remarked,  to  the  antiquity  of  the  apostolic  writ- 
ings and  the  main  facts  of  the  gospel  history. 
He  thus  furnishes  a  strong  argument  against  the 
modern  mythical  and  legendary  biographists  of 
Jesus.  Celsus  refers  to  the  Gospels  of  Matthew, 
Luke,  and  John ;  and  makes,  upon  the  whole, 
about  eighty  allusions  to,  or  quotations  from,  the 
Kew  Testament.  He  takes  notice  of  Christ's  birth 
from  a  virgin  in  a  small  village  of  Judaea;  the 
adoration  of  the  wise  men  from  the  East;  the 
slaughter  of  the  infants  by  order  of  Herod ;  the 
flight  to  Egypt,  where  he  supposes  Christ  learned 
the  charms  of  magicians  ;  his  residence  in  Naza- 
reth ;  his  baptism,  and  the  descent  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  the  shape  of  a  dove,  and  the  voice  from 
heaven;  the  election  of  his  disciples;  his  friend- 
ship with  publicans  and  other  low  people ;  his  cures 
of  the  lame  and  the  blind,  and  raising  of  the  dead ; 
the  betrayal  of  Judas ;  the  denial  of  Peter ;  the  prin- 
cipal circumstances  in  the  history  of  the  passion 
and  crucifixion ;  also  the  resurrection  of  Christ. 

It  is  true,  he  perverts  or  abuses  most  of  these 
facts;  but,  according  to  his  own  showing,  they 
were  then  generally,  and  had  always  been,  believed 
by  the  Christians.  He  does  not  deny  the  miracles 
of  Jesus,  but,  like  the  Jews,  he  derives  them  from 
evil  spirits,  and  makes  Jesus  a  magician  and  im- 
postor.    He  alludes  also  to  some  of  the  principal 


LUCIAN — PORPHYRY.  201 

doctrines  of  the  Christians,  to  their  private  assem- 
blies for  worship,  and  to  the  of&ce  of  presbyters. 
He  omits  the  grosser  charges  of  immorality,  which 
he  probably  considered  absurd  and  incredible.* 


LUCIAN. 

Lncian,  a  brilliant  but  frivolous  rhetorician  of 
Syria,  who  died  in  Egypt  or  Greece  about  A.D.  200, 
wrote  indirectly  against  Christianity  in  his  "  Life 
of  Peregrinus,"  and  treated  it  under  disguise,  as  one 
of  the  many  follies  of  the  age,  with  the  light 
weapons  of  wit  and  ridicule.  Yet  he  never  calls 
Christ  an  impostor,  as  Celsus  did,  but  a  crucified 
sophist ;  a  term  which  he  uses  as  often  in  a  good 
sense  as  in  the  bad.^ 


POEPHYEY. 
From  his  "Philosophy  of  Oracles.** 

Porphyry,  a  Phoenician  by  birth,  was  a  heathen 
philosopher  of  the  new  Platonist  school  toward  the 
end  of  the  third  century,  and  taught  and  died  at 

^  For  a  fuller  account  of  Celsus'  argument,  see  the  author's 
"Church  History,"  vol.  i.  p.  187.  Lardner,  Doddridge,  and  Leland 
made  good  use  of  Celsus  against  the  Deists  of  their  day.  He  may, 
with  still  greater  effect,  be  turned  against  Strauss  and  Renan. 

2  Compare,  on  Lucian,  the  author's  "  Church  History,"  i.  189. 

26 


202  IMPARTIAL   TESTIMONIES. 

Eome,  A.D.  304.  He  wrote,  besides  a  number  of 
books  which  have  no  bearing  upon  the  subject 
before  us,  an  extensive  work  against  the  Christian 
religion,  in  fifteen  books ;  ^  and  a  sort  of  text-book 
of  heathen  theology,  under  the  title  "  The  Philo- 
sophy of  Oracles."  ^  Both  are  lost,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  some  fragments  in  the  writings  of  the 
fathers.  A  letter  to  his  wife  Marcella  has  been 
recently  brought  to  light. 

Porphyry  is  more  serious  and  profound  in  spirit, 
and  respectful  in  tone  toward  Christianity,  than 
Lucian  and  Celsus  or  any  heathen  opponent  before 
him.  He  made  an  approach  to  some  Christian 
ideas,  or  was  unconsciously  under  the  influence 
which  they  exerted  over  the  intelligent  and  reflect- 
ing minds  of  that  age.  In  the  letter  to  his  wife, 
he  represents  the  ethical  triad  of  St.  Paul, — faith, 
love,  and  hope, — in  connection  with  truth,  as  the 
foundation  of  true  piety.^     In  the  same  letter,  he 


^  Kara  XpiariavCUp  \6yoi.  Compare  Eusebius,  Hist,  Eccles.,  lib. 
vi.  cap.  19 ;  Socrates,  Hist.  Eccl.  i.  9  (in  a  letter  of  Constantino,  who 
boasts  of  having  caused  the  destruction  of  the  infamous  writings 
of  Porphyry),  iii.  23;  Euseb.,  Prcepar.  Evang.,  &c. 

2  Ilepl  TTJs  €K  Xoyicop  <}>Lko(TO<f>ias.  Extracts  from  it  are  contained 
in  Eusebius'  '*  Prceparatio  Evangelica,  and  Demonstratio  Evari' 
gelica;"  in  Augustine's  "Pe  Civitate  Dei;"  and  in  Theodoret's 
"Twelve  Apologetic  Discourses."  Lardner  denies  the  genuineness 
of  this  work,  on  insufficient  grounds;  but  Fabricius,  Mosheim, 
Neander,  and  others,  treat  it  as  a  production  of  Porphyry. 

2  Ep.  ad  Marcellam  (ed.  by  Card.  Angelo  Mai,  Milan,  1816),  cap. 
xxiv.  :  T^aaapa  <rroix€ta  p^oXlcttol   KCKpar^v^cj   irepl  ^eod,   iri<rnj. 


POEPHYRY.  203 

utters  other  sentences  whicli  sound  like  remi- 
niscences of  Bible  passages,  although  he  no  doubt 
put  a  different  philosophical  meaning  into  them. 
Like  many  Eationalists  of  more  recent  times, 
he  made  a  distinction  between  the  original,  pure 
Christianity  of  Christ,  and  the  corruption  of  Chris- 
tianity by  the  Apostles.  In  his  work  on  the 
*' Philosophy  of  Oracles,"  he  says  of  Christ,  as 
quoted  by  St.  Augustine  {De  Civitate  Dei,  1.  xix. 
cap.  23  ;  compare  also  Eusebius'  Demonst.  Evang. 
iii.  6)  :— 

"  The  oracle  declared  Christ  to  be  a  most  pious 
man,  and  his  soul,  like  the  soul  of  other  pious  men 
after  death,  favoured  with  immortality;  and  that 
the  mistaken  Christians  worship  him.  And  when 
we  asked.  Why,  then,  was  he  condemned?  the 
goddess  (Hecate)  answered  in  the  oracle :  The  body 
indeed  is  ever  liable  to  debilitating  torments ;  but 
the  soul  of  the  pious  dwells  in  the  heavenly  man- 
sion. But  that  soul  has  fatally  been  the  occasion 
to  many  other  souls  to  be  involved  in  error,  to 
whom  it  has  not  been  given  to  acknowledge  the 
immortal  Jove.  But  himself  is  pious,  and  gone  to 
heaven  as  other  pious  men  do.  Him,  therefore, 
thou  shalt  not  blaspheme;  but  pity  the  folly  of 
men,  because  of  the  danger  they  a^e  in." 

aXiJ^eia,  ^pws  [a  Platonic  substitute  for  the  Christian  dYciTrr;], 
iXiris.  Angelo  Mai  inferred,  without  good  reason,  that  JMIirceUa 
was  a  Christian. 


204  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 


JULIAN  THE  APOSTATE. 

From  Cyrillus  Alex.,  Contra  Julian.,  lib. 
vi.  p.  191. 

Julian  the  Apostate,  Eoman  emperor  from  361 
to  363,  the  most  gifted  and  the  most  bitter  of  all 
the  ancient  assailants  of  Christianity,  endeavoured, 
with  the  whole  combined  influence  of  his  station, 
talent,  and  example,  to  restore  idolatry  throughout 
the  Eoman  empire,  but  in  vain.  His  reign  passed 
away  like  the  "  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision,  leaving 
no  wreck  behind,"  save  the  important  lesson  that 
ancient  paganism  was  hopelessly  extinct,  and  that 
no  human  power  can  arrest  the  triumphant  march 
of  Christianity.-^ 

In  his  work  against  the  Christian  religion, 
where  he  combined  all  former  attacks,  and  infused 
into  them  his  own  sarcastic  spirit,  he  says  of 
Christ,  as  quoted  by  his  opponent  Cyril,  Bishop  of 
Alexandria,  Contr,  Jul, : — 

"Jesus,  having  persuaded  a  few  among  you 
[Galileans,  as  he  contemptuously  called  the  Chris- 
tians], and  those  of  the  worst  of  men,  has  now 
been  celebrated  about  three  hundred  years ;  having 

1  For  a  fuller  account  of  Julian  and  his  reign,  see  the  author's 
** Church  History,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  39  and  75. 


JULIAN  THE  APOSTATE.  205 

done  nothing  in  his  lifetime  worthy  of  fame,^  un- 
less any  one  thinks  it  a  very  great  work  to  heal 
lame  and  blind  people  and  exorcise  demoniacs  ^  in 
the  villages  of  Bethsaida  and  Bethany." 

Note. — This  is  sufficiently  bitter  and  contemptuous  ;  and 
yet  it  concedes  to  Christ  the  power  of  working  miracles  ;  and 
these  miracles,  having  all  the  highest  moral  and  benevolent 
character,  are  an  argument  for  the  purity  and  divine  mission 
of  Christ's  person.  Dr.  Lardner,  in  his  **  Credibility  of  the 
Gospel  History,"  makes  the  following  judicious  remarks  on 
this  passage  :^ — 

"  (i.)  This  is  plainly  acknowledging  the  truth  of  the  evan- 
gelical history,  though  he  [Julian]  does  not  refer  to  the  whole 
of  it,  nor  specify  all  the  great  works  that  Jesus  did,  nor  all 
the  places  in  which  they  were  performed.  (2.)  He  acknow- 
ledgeth  that,  for  three  hundred  years  or  more,  Jesus  had  been 
celebrated  ;  which  regard  for  him  was  founded  upon  the 
works  done  by  him  in  his  lifetime  ;  which  works  had  been 
recorded  by  his  disciples,  eye-witnesses  of  those  works  ;  and 
the  tradition  had  been  handed  down  from  the  beginning  to 
the  time  in  which  Julian  lived.  (3.)  Why  should  not  '  healing 
lame  and  blind  men,  and  such  as  were  afflicted  with  other  dis- 
tempers generally  ascribed  to  demons,*  be  reckoned  great  works? 
All  judicious  and  impartial  men  must  esteem  them  great 
works  when  performed  on  the  sudden,  and  completely,  as  all 
our  Lord's  works  of  healing  were, — greater  works  than  found- 
ing cities,  erecting  an  extensive  monarchy,  or  subduing  whole 
nations  by  slaughter  and  the  common  methods  of  conquest, 
though  such  things  have  been  often  thought  more  worthy  to 
be  numbered  and  recorded  by  historians.  (4.)  If  there  were 
but  a  few  only  persuaded  by  Jesus  during  his  abode  on  this 
earth,  it  was  not  for  want  of  sufficient  evidence.     There  was 

^    0i>bh  OLKOT}^  ^P'.OV. 

2  TOi)s    KvWovs    Kul    TOiL>s   TVipXci/s   Idcaa^aiy    nal    daijj.opQvTas 

3  Lardner's  Works^  ed.   by  Dr.  Kippis,  London,  1838,  vol.  vii.  p. 
628. 


206  IMPAETIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

enough,  it  seems,  to  persuade  some  had  men,  called  in  the 
Gospels  *  publicans  and  sinners;'  the  'worst  men,'  as  you 
SEij.  But  there  were  also  some  serious  and  pious  men, 
thoughtful  and  inquisitive,  as  Nathanael,  Nicodemus,  and 
others,  who  were  persuaded  and  fully  satisfied,  though  for  a 
while  they  had  been  adverse  and  prejudiced.  And  there  were 
worse  men  than  those  whom  you  call  *  the  worst,'  even  Scribes 
and  Pharisees,  proud,  covetous,  ambitious  men,  whom  no 
rational  evidence,  however  clear  and  strong,  could  persuade 
to  receive  religious  principles  contrary  to  their  present  worldly 
interests." 

The  same  writer,  after  a  careful  examination  of  all  the 
arguments  of  Julian  against  the  religion  of  the  Bible  and  the 
character  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  thus  ably  and  truthfully 
sums  up  their  value  as  an  undesigned  and  involuntary  in- 
direct testimony  for  the  truth  and  credibility  of  the  gospel 
history  :  ^ — 

"Julian  has  Y>orne  a  valuable  testimony  to  the  history  and 
to  the  books  of  the  New  Testament,  as  all  must  acknowledge 
who  have  read  the  extracts  just  made  from  his  works.  He 
allows  that  Jesus  was  born  in  the  reign  of  Augustus,  at  the 
time  of  the  taxing  made  in  Judsea  by  Cyrenius;  that  the 
Christian  religion  had  its  rise,  and  began  to  be  propagated,  in 
the  times  of  the  emperors  Tiberius  and  Claudius.  He  bears 
witness  to  the  genuineness  and  authenticity  of  the  four 
Gospels  of  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John,  and  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles  ;  and  he  so  quotes  them  as  to  intimate  that  they 
were  the  only  historical  books  received  by  Christians  as  of 
authority,  and  the  only  authentic  memoirs  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  his  Apostles,  and  the  doctrines  preached  by  them.  He 
allows  their  early  date,  and  even  argues  for  it.  He  also 
quotes,  or  plainly  refers  to,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  to  St. 
Paul's  Epistles  to  the  Romans,  the  Corinthians,  and  the 
Galatians.  He  does  not  deny  the  miracles  of  Jesus  Christ, 
but  allows  him  to  have  '  healed  the  blind,  and  the  lame,  and 
demoniacs ; '  and  '  to  have  rebuked  the  winds,  and  walked 
upon  the  waves  of  the  sea.'  He  endeavours,  indeed,  to 
diminish  these  works,  but  in  vain.     The  consequence  is  un- 

^  Lardner's  WorkSy  vii.  pp.  638,  639. 


JULIAN  THE  APOSTATE.  20/ 

denia"ble,— such  works  are  good  proofs  of  a  divine  mission. 
He  endeavours  also  to  lessen  the  number  of  the  early  believers 
in  Jesus  ;  and  yet  he  acknowledgeth  that  there  were  '  multi- 
tudes of  such  men  in  Greece  and  Italy '  before  St.  John  wrote 
his  Gospel.  He  likewise  affects  to  diminish  the  quality  of 
the  early  believers;  and  yet  acknowledgeth,  that,  beside 
*  men-servants  and  maid-servants,'  Cornelius,  a  Roman  centu- 
rion at  Caesarea,  and  Sergius  Paulus,  Proconsul  of  Cyprus, 
were  converted  to  the  faith  of  Jesus  before  the  end  of  the 
reign  of  Claudius.  And  he  often  speaks  with  great  indigna- 
tion of  Peter  and  Paul,  those  two  great  Apostles  of  Jesus,  and 
successful  preachers  of  his  gospel.  So  that,  upon  the  whole, 
he  has  undesignedly  borne  witness  to  the  truth  of  many 
things  recorded  in  the  books  of  the  New  Testament.  He 
aimed  to  overthrow  the  Christian  religion,  but  has  confirmed 
it :  his  arguments  against  it  are  perfectly  harmless,  and  in- 
sufficient to  unsettle  the  weakest  Christian.  He  justly 
excepts  to  some  things  introduced  into  the  Christian  profes- 
sion by  the  late  professors  of  it,  in  his  own  time  or  sooner, 
but  has  not  made  one  objection  of  moment  against  the  Chris- 
tian religion  as  contained  in  the  genuine  and  authentic  books 
of  the  New  Testament." 


SPINOZA. 

The  great  Jewish  philosopher,  bora  at  Amsterdam 
1632 ;  died  1677. 

Epistola  23. 

Christ  was  the  temple  of  God,  because  in  him 
God  has  most  fully  revealed  himself. 

**  Atqui  hoc  summum  est  quod  Christus  de  se  ipso  dixit,  $e 
scil.  templum  Dei  esse,  nimirum,  quia  Deus  sese  maxime  in 
Christo  manifestavit,  quod  Johannes,  ut  efficacius  exprimef\3tf 
dixit:  verbum factum  esse  caimem." 


208  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

THOMAS  CHUBB. 

An  English  Deist  (i 679-1 748).     From  the  **  True  Gospel 
of  Jesus  Christy"  sect.  viii.  pp.  55,  56. 

"  In  Christ  we  have  an  example  of  a  quiet  and 
peaceable  spirit;  of  a  becoming  modesty  and 
sobriety ;  just,  honest,  upright,  sincere ;  and,  above 
all,  of  a  most  gracious  and  benevolent  temper  and 
behaviour.  One  who  did  no  wrong,  no  injury  to 
any  man ;  in  whose  mouth  was  no  guile ;  who 
went  about  doing  good,  not  only  by  his  ministry, 
but  also  in  curing  all  manner  of  diseases  among 
the  people.  His  life  was  a  beautiful  picture  of 
human  nature  in  its  native  purity  and  simplicity, 
and  showed  at  once  what  excellent  creatures  men 
would  be  when  under  the  influence  and  power  of 
that  gospel  which  he  preached  unto  them." 


DENIS  DIDEEOT. 

This  French  philosopher  (born  in  Langres,  1 7 1 3, 
died  in  Paris,  1784)  founded  and  edited,  with  other 
free  -  thinkers,  the  famous  ''  Encyclopedie''  (since 
^75  0>  which,  with  the  professed  aim  of  presenting 
a  summary  of  all  the  branches  of  human  learning 
and  art,  became  the  chief  repository  of  the  revolu- 


DENIS   DIDEROT.  209 

tionary  and  infidel  ideas  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  was  several  times  suspended  by  the  government, 
but  completed  at  last.  He  was  all  his  life  con- 
sidered a  confirmed  atheist ;  but  during  his  later 
years,  to  the  astonishment  of  his  friends,  he  made 
the  Bible  a  part  of  the  education  of  his  only 
dau,ghter,  who  subsequently  wrote  his  '^  Memoir es^' 
and  frequently  received  visits  from  a  clergyman. 

The  late  venerable  Antistes  Hess  of  Zurich,  the 
author  of  a  "  Life  of  Jesus  "  and  other  good  works, 
relates  from  the  mouth  of  a  personal  witness  the 
following  interesting  anecdote,  which  we  will  give 
(from  Stier's  ''  Beden  Jesu^'  Part  vi.  p.  496)  in 
French  and  English: — 

''  Dans  une  de  ces  soirees  die  Baron  d'Holbach  oti 
se  reunissaient  les  jplus  cdUhres  incredules  dii  sUcle, 
on  venait  de  se  donner  plein^e  carrUre  ;pour  relever 
le  plus  plaisamment  die  monde  les  pr4tendues  ah- 
surdiUs,  les  hetises,  les  inepties  de  tout  genre  dont 
fourmillent  nos  livres  sacr^s.  Le  philosophe  Diderot, 
qui  n'avait  pas  pris  lui-mSme  une  mince  part  a  la 
conversation,  finit  par  Varriter  tout  a  coup  en 
disant : 

" '  A  merveilleSj  messieurs,  d  merveilles,je  ne  connais 
personne  en  France  ni  ailleurs,  qui  saclie  6crire  et 
parler  avec  plus  d'art  et  de  talent.  Cependant 
malgr4  tout  le  mal  que  nous  avons  dit,  et  sans  doute 
avec  heaucoup  de  raison,  de  ce  didble  de  livre,  fose 
27 


2IO  IM^^AIOTAL   TESTIMONIES. 

vous  d^ficr  tous  tant  que  vous  ites,  de  faire  un  rScit 
qui  soit  mcssi  sionple,  mais  en  mime  temps  aussi 
siiblime,  aussi  touchant  que  le  r^cit  de  la  passion  et 
de  la  mort  de  J4sus-Christ,  qui  produise  le  mime 
cffet,  qui  fasse  une  sensation  aussi  forte,  aussi 
giniralement  ressentie,  et  dont  Vinfluence  soit  encore 
la  mime  aprhs  tant  de  siedes! 

"  Cette  apostrophe  impr4vue  4tonna  tous  les  audi- 
teurs,  etfut  suivie  mime  d'un  assez  long  silence." 

"In  one  of  those  evening  parties  of  Baron 
d'Holbach,  where  the  most  celebrated  infidels  of 
the  century  used  to  assemble,  the  conversation 
turned  freely,  and  in  the  most  amusing  manner, 
on  the  supposed  absurdities,  stupidities,  and  all 
kind  of  inconsistencies,  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures. 
The  philosopher  Diderot,  who  had  taken  no  small 
part  in  the  conversation,  brought  it  suddenly  to  a 
close  by  the  following  remark  : — 

" '  For  a  wonder,  gentlemen,  for  a  wonder,  I  know 
nobody,  either  in  France  or  anywhere  else,  who 
could  write  and  speak  with  more  art  and  talent. 
Notwithstanding  all  the  bad  which  we  have  said, 
and  no  doubt  with  good  reason,  of  this  devil  of  a 
book  (de  ce  diahle  de  livre),  I  defy  you  all — as  many 
as  are  here — to  prepare  a  tale  so  simple,  and  at 
the  same  time  so  sublime  and  so  toucliing,  as  the 
tale  of  the  passion   and  death   of   Jesus    Christ; 


JEAN   JACQUES   ROUSSEAU.  21  I 

which  produces  the  same  effect,  which  makes  a 
sensation  as  strong  and  as  generally  felt,  and 
whose  influence  will  be  the  same,  after  so  many 
centuries/ 

"  This  unexpected  speech  astonished  all  the  hear- 
ers, and  was  followed  by  a  pretty  long  silence." 


JEAN  JACQUES  EOUSSEAU. 

From  his  *^ Emile  ou  de  U Education,^^  iivre  iv.  {Profession 
de  Foi  du  Vicaire  Savoyard.)  (Euvres  compUtes,  Paris, 
1839,  tome  iii.  pp.  365-367. 

This  famous  French  philosopher  and  rhetorician 
was  born  in  Geneva,  the  city  of  Calvin,  in  1 7 1 2  ; 
and  died,  after  a  restless,  changeful,  and  unhappy 
life,  near  Chantilly,  in  1778.  He  did  as  much  as 
any  writer,  Voltaire  not  excepted,  to  prepare  the 
way  for  the  French  Eevolution,  and  the  consequent 
overthrow  of  the  whole  social  order  in  France. 
His  life  is  marked  by  a  series  of  blunders,  caprices, 
glaring  inconsistencies,  and  violent  changes  from 
Calvinism  to  Eomanism,  from  Eomanism  to  infi- 
delity, from  infidelity  to  transient  belief,  from 
poverty  and  misery,  persecution  and  exile,  to  glory 
and  happiness,  and  back  again  to  misery,  from 
philanthropy  to  misanthropy,  from  sense  to  the 
very  borders  of  insanity, — all  illuminated  by  flashes 


212  IMPARTIAL   TESTIMONIES. 

of  genius.  He  was  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and 
fascinating,  but  also  one  of  the  most  paradoxical 
and  dangerous,  of  writers.  He  viewed  everything 
from  his  lively  imagination,  and  wrote  every  line 
under  the  impulse  of  feeling  and  passion.  His 
judgment  was  on  the  side  of  virtue  and  religion; 
but  in  his  conduct  he  betrayed  every  principle  he 
enjoined.  He  drew  the  most  charming  pictures  of 
female  loveliness,  and  yet  he  lived  long  in  illegal  in- 
tercourse, and  at  last  married  his  servant, — a  vulgar 
and  ill-tempered  woman.  He  rebuked  the  ladies  of 
France  for  intrusting  their  children  to  nurses,  and 
yet  he  placed  his  own  in  a  foundling-hospital. 

His  remarkable  testimony  to  Christ  and  the 
Gospels  is  the  best  thing  he  ever  wrote,  and  will 
last  the  longest.  It  was  written  about  a.d.  1760, 
and  appeared  in  his  work  on  .education,  which  was 
condemned  for  its  dangerous  speculations  on  religion 
and  morals  by  the  Parliament  of  France,  and  caused 
his  banishment  from  the  kingdom.  We  quote  it 
first  in  the  oricjinal  French  : — 

"  Je  vous  avoue  aussi  que  la  majesty  des  jEcritures 
m'donne,  la  sainteU  de  Vllvangile  jparle  d  mon 
cceur}  Voyez  les  livres  des  philoso^hes  avec  toute 
leur  pompe  ;  qvJils  sont  petits  prds  de  cehd-lcb  !     Se 

^  Var.  Je  vous  avoue  aussi  que  la  saintcU  de  VEvangile  est  un 
argument  qui  parte  d.  mon  coeur,  et  auquel  faurais  mime  regret  de 
trouver  quelque  bonne  riponse.     Voyez  les  livres.  .  .  . 


JEAN  JACQUES   ROUSSEAU.  21 3 

peut-il  gvJun  livre  d  la  fois  si  sublime  et  si  simple  soil 
Vouvrage  des  homines?  Se  peut-il  que  celui  dont 
il  fait  I'histoire  ne  soit  qu'un  homme  lui-meme  ? 
Est-ce  Id  le  ton  d'un  entJiousiaste  ou  d'un  amhitieux 
sectaire  ?  Quelle  douceur,  quelle  pureU,  dans  ses 
mceurs !  quelle  grace  touchante  dans  ses  instruc- 
tions! quelle  Mvation  dans  ses  maximes!  quelle 
jprofonde  sagesse  dans  ses  discours !  quelle  pre- 
sence d' esprit,  quelle  finesse  et  quelle  Just  esse  dans 
ses  r6po  uses  !  quel  empire  sur  ses  passions  !  Oijb  est 
Vhomme,  oil  est  le  sage  qui  sait  agir,  souffrir  et 
mourir  sans  foiUesse  et  sans  ostentation  ?  Quancl 
Platan  peint  son  juste  imaginaire'^  couvert  de  tout  > 
Vopprohre  du  crime,  et  digne  de  tous  les  prix  de  la 
vertu;  il  peint  trait  pour  trait  Jdsus-Christ  :  la 
ressemhlance  est  si  frappante,  que  tous  les  Fhres  Vont 
sentie,  et  quil  nest  pas  possible  de  s'y  tromper?- 
Quels  pr6jug6s,  quel  aveuglement  ^  ne  faut-il  point 
avoir  pour  oser  comparer  le  fils  de  Sophronisque  aio 
fils  de  Marie?  Quelle  distance  de  Vun  d  V autre  I 
Socrate,  rnourant  sans  douleur,  sans  ignomie,  soutint 

1  De.  Kep.  lib.  i. 

2  Cette  ressemhlance  est  le  resultat  general  des  deux  premiers 
livres  ou  dialogues  du  traits  de  Platon,  intitule  "  Dela  Bepublique." 
Le  passage  le  plus  remarquable  h  ce  sujet  est  celui  qu'il  met  dans  la 
bouche  de  son  adversaire  (tome  ii.  p.  361,  E.  edition  de  H.  Etienne, 
ou  tome  vi.  pp.  215  et  216,  edition  de  Deux-Ponts).  Quant  aux 
Peres  de  I'Eglise  dont  il  est  question  ici,  voyez  entre  autres  Saint 
Justin  [Apologia  prima,  No.  5),  et  Saint  Clement  d'Alexandrie 
{Stromata,  lib.  iv.) 

3  Var.  .  .  .  Quel  aveuglement  ou  quelle  mourvaise  foi  ne.  .  ,  . 


214         IMPARTIAL  TESTIMOXIES. 

aisdment  jitsqiiau  bout  son  personage;  et  si  ceite 
facile  mort  n'eiXt  honor^  sa  vie,  on  douterait  si 
Socrate,  avec  tout  son  esprit,  fut  autre  chose  qiCun 
sophiste.  II  inventa,  dit-on,  la  morale;  d'autrcs 
avant  lui  Vavoient  mise  en  pratique :  il  ne  fit  que 
dire  ce  qu'ils  avoient  fait,  il  ne  fit  que  rnettre  en 
legons  leurs  exemples.  Aristide  avait  M  juste  avant 
que  Socrate  eilt  dit  ce  que  c6tait  que  justice.  L4onidas 
4tait  mort  pour  son  pays  avant  que  Socrate  eiXt  fait 
un  devoir  d' aimer  la  patrie  ;  Sparte  Stait  sohre  avant 
que  Socrate  eilt  lou4  la  solriM ;  avant  quit  eiXt 
d^fini  la  vertu,  la  Grece  ahondait  en  hommes  vertueux. 
Mais  oil  J4sus  avait-il  pris  chez  les  siens  cette  morale 
4lev4e  et  pure  dont  lui  seul  a  donn6  les  legons  et 
Vexemp)le  ?  ^  Die  sein  du  plus  furieux  fanatisme  la 
'plus  haute  sagesse  se  fit  entendre,  et  la  simplicity  des 
plus  Mroiques  vertu^  honora  le  plus  vil  de  tous  les 
peuples.  La  mort  de  Socrate,  philosophant  tranquil- 
lement  avec  ses  amis,  est  la  plus  douce  qu'on  puisse 
ddsirer  ;  celle  de  J(^sus  expirant  dans  les  tourments, 
injuria,  raille,  maudit  de  tout  un  peuple,  est  la  plus 
horrible  quon  puisse  craindre.  Socrate  prenant  la 
coupe  empoisonn4e  b4nit  celui  qui  la  lui  prdsent4  et 
qui  pleure ;  J4sus,  au  milieu  d\cn  supplice  affreux, 
prie  pour  ses  bourreaux  acharn4s. 

"  Oui,  si  la  vie  et  la  mort  de  Socrate  sont  d'un 

1  Voyez,  dans  le  discours  sur  la  montagne,  le  parallele  qu'il  fait 
]ui-meme  de  la  morale  de  Moise  a  la  sieiine,  Matt.  cap.  v.  vers  21 
et  scq. 


JEAN  JACQUES  ROUSSEAU.         21$ 

sage,  la  vie  et  la  mort  de  Jesus  sont  d'un  Dieu. 
Dirons-nous  que  Vhistoire  de  VSvangile  est  invenUe 
a  plaisir  ?  Mon  ami,  ce  nest  pas  ainsi  quon  in- 
vente ;  et  les  faits  de  Socrate  dont  personne  ne 
doute,  sont  moins  attestes  que  ceux  de  Jesus-Christ. 
An  fond,  cest  reculer  la  dijfficidt4  sans  la  ddruire  ; 
il  seroit  plus  inconcevable  que  plusieurs  hommes 
d'accord^  eussent  fabrique  ce  livre,  qu'il  ne  Test 
qu'un  seul  en  ait  fourni  le  sujet.  Jamais  des 
auteurs  juifs  n  eussent  trouv4  ni  ce  ton,  ni  cette  mo- 
rale ;  et  Vl^vangile  a  des  caract^res  de  vdrit4  si 
grands,  sifrappants,  si  parfaitement  inimitaUes,  que 
I'inventeur  en  seroit  plus  etonnant  que  le  heros.^ 

''  Avee  tout  cela,  ce  mSme  J^vangile  est  plein  de 
choses  incroyaUes,  de  choses  qui  r^pugnent  a  la 
raison,  et  qu'il  est  impossible  a  tout  liomme  sens4  de 
concevoir  ni  d'admettre.  Que  f aire  aio  milieu  de  toutes 
ces  contradictions  ^  Mre  toujours  modcste  et  circon- 
spect,  mon  enfant ;  respecter  en  silence  ce  quon  ne 
saurait  ni  rejetcr,  ni  comprendre,  et  shumilier  de- 
vant  le  grand  l^tre^  qui  seul  sait  la  v&itSJ' 

1  Yar. .  .  .  que  quatre  hommes  d'accord.  ...  A  la  suite  de  ces 
mots  est  line  note  ainsi  concue;  Je  veux  hien  n'en  pas  compter* 
davantage,  parceque  leurs  quatre  livres  sont  les  seules  vies  de  JesuS' 
Christ  qui  nous  sont  restees  du  grand  nombre  qui  avoient  ete  ecrites. 

2  Dans  une  lettre  k  M.  de  .  .  .,  dat^e  de  1769,  Rousseau  revient 
encore  sur  ce  parallele  etabli  par  lui  entre  Jdsus  et  Socrate  ;  et  ne 
supposant  aucun  caractere  divin  ni  mission  surnaturelle  au  sage 
litSbreu,  qu'il  oppose  de  nouveau  au  sage  grec,  il  presente  sur  les 
vues  et  la  conduite  du  premier  des  considerations  toutes  nouvelles. 
Voyez  la  Corrcspoudance, 


2 1 6  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

"  I  will  confess  to  you,  that  the  majesty  of  the 
Scriptures  strikes  me  with  admiration,  as  the 
purity  of  the  gospel  has  its  influence  on  my  heart. 
Peruse  the  works  of  our  philosophers,  with  all 
their  pomp  of  diction,  how  mean,  how  contemp- 
tible are  they,  compared  with  the  Scriptures !  Is 
it  possible  that  a  book,  at  once  so  simple  and  so 
sublime,  should  be  merely  the  work  of  man  ?  Is 
it  possible  that  the  sacred  personage  whose  history 
it  contains  should  be  himself  a  mere  man  ?  Do 
we  find  that  he  assumed  the  tone  of  an  enthusiast 
or  ambitious  sectary  ?  What  sweetness,  what 
purity  in  his  manner !  What  an  affecting  grace- 
fulness in  his  instructions  !  What  sublimity  in 
his  maxims !  What  profound  wisdom  in  his  dis- 
courses !  What  presence  of  mind,  what  subtlety, 
what  fitness,  in  his  replies  !  How  great  the 
command  over  his  passions  !  Where  is  the  man, 
where  the  philosopher,  who  could  so  live  and  so 
die,  without  weakness,  and  without  ostentation  ? 
When  Plato  describes  his  imaginary  righteous 
man,  loaded  with  all  the  punishments  of  guilt, 
yet  meriting  the  highest  rewards  of  virtue,  he 
describes  exactly  the  character  of  Jesus  Christ* 
the  resemblance  is  so  striking,  that  all  the  Church 
Fathers  perceived  it.  What  prepossession,  what 
blindness  must  it  be  to  compare  the  son  of 
Sophroniscus    to    the    son    of   ]\Iary !     What   an 


JEAN   JACQUES   ROUSSEAU.  21/ 

infinite  disproportion  there  is  between  them! 
Socrates,  dying  without  pain  or  ignominy,  easily 
supported  his  character  to  the  last;  and,  if  this 
easy  death  had  not  crowned  his  life,  it  might 
have  been  doubted  whether  Socrates,  with  all  his 
wisdom,  was  anything  more  than  a  mere  sophist. 
He  invented,  it  is  said,  the  theory  of  ethics. 
Others,  however,  had  before  put  them  into 
practice :  he  had  only  to  say,  therefore,  what  they 
had  done,  and  to  reduce  their  examples  to  pre- 
cepts. Aristides  had  been  just  before  Socrates 
defined  justice.  Leonidas  had  given  up  his  life* 
for  his  country  before  Socrates  declared  patriotism 
to  be  a  duty.  The  Spartans  were  a  sober  people 
before  Socrates  recommended  sobriety.  Before  he 
had  even  defined  virtue,  Greece  aboimded  in 
virtuous  men.  But  where  could  Jesus  learn, 
among  his  contemporaries,  that  pure  and  sublime 
morality  of  which  he  only  has  given  us  both  pre- 
cept and  example  ?  The  greatest  wisdom  was 
made  known  among  the  most  bigoted  fanaticism ; 
and  the  simplicity  of  the  most  heroic  virtues  did 
honour  to  the  vilest  people  on  earth.  The  death 
of  Socrates,  peacefully  philosophising  among  friends, 
appears  the  most  agreeable  that  one  could  wish: 
that  of  Jesus,  expiring  in  agonies,  abused,  insulted, 
and  accused  by  a  whole  nation,  is  the  most 
horrible  that  one  could  fear.  Socrates,  indeed,  in 
28 


^l8  IMPATITIAL   TESTIMONIES. 

receiving  the  cup  of  poison,  blessed  the  weeping 
executioner  who  administered  it;  but  Jesus, 
amidst  excruciating  tortures,  prayed  for  his  merci- 
less tormentors. 

"  YeSj  if  the  life  and  death  of  Socrates  were  those 
of  a  sage,  the  life  and  death  of  Jesus  are  those  of  a 
Godr 

"  Shall  we  suppose  the  evangelical  history  a  mere 
fiction  ?  Indeed,  my  friend,  it  bears  no  marks  of 
fiction.  On  the  contrary,  the  history  of  Socrates, 
which  no  one  presumes  to  doubt,  is  not  so  well 
attested  as  that  of  Jesus  Christ.  Such  a  supposi- 
tion, in  fact,  only  shifts  the  difficulty  without  ob- 
viating it :  it  is  more  inconceivable  that  a  number 
of  persons  should  agree  to  write  such  a  history, 
than  that  one  should  furnish  the  subject  of  it. 
The  Jewish  authors  were  incapable  of  the  diction, 
and  strangers  to  the  morality  contained  in  the 
gospel.  The  marks  of  its  truth  are  so  striking 
and  inimitable,  that  the  inventor  woidd  he  a  more 
astonishing  character  than  the  hero. 

"With  all  this,  the  same  gospel  is  full  of  in- 
credible things  which  are  repugnant  to  reason,  and 
which  it  is  impossible  for  a  sensible  man  to  con- 
ceive and  to  admit.  What  shall  we  do  in  the 
midst  of  all  these  contradictions  ?  We  should 
be  always  modest  and  circumspect,  my  child; 
respect  in  silence  what  we  can  neither  reject  nor 


NAPOLEON   BONAPARTE.  219 

understand ;  and  humble  ourselves  before  that  great 
Beinoj  who  alone  knows  the  truth/' 


NAPOLEON  BONAPAETE. 

Napoleon  the  First  grew  up  in  the  infidel  atmo- 
sphere of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  was  all  his 
life  so  much  absorbed  with  schemes  of  military 
conquest  and  political  dominion  that  he  had  no 
time,  even  if  he  had  the  inclination,  to  reflect 
seriously  on  the  subject  of  religion.  Ambition 
was  the  idol  monster  to  which  he  sacrificed  millions 
of  human  beings,  and  even  his  devoted  wife,  whom 
he  ardently  loved  and  admired.  But  he  had  too 
profound  an  intellect  ever  to  be  an  atheist.  He 
was  constitutionally  inclined  to  fatalism ;  and  like 
his  nephew,  Napoleon  III.,  he  believed  in  his  star. 
He  knew  that  religion  was  an  essential  element  in 
human  nature,  and  the  strongest  pillar  of  public 
morals  and  social  order.  In  his  Egyptian  cam- 
paign, it  is  said,  he  carried  with  him  a  New 
Testament  along  with  the  Koran,  under  the  char- 
acteristic title,  "  Politics."  It  was  from  this 
political  point  of  view  that  he  restored  the  Eoman 
Catholic   Church  in    France  (which  the  folly    of 


220  IMPARTIAL   TESTIMONIES. 

the  Eevolution  had  swept  away),  and  secured  to 
the  Protestants  the  liberty  of  public  worship,  but 
kept  both  subject  to  the  secular  power  and  his 
despotic  will. 

During  his  exile  at  St.  Helena,  Napoleon  had 
the  best  opportunity  of  reflecting  on  his  unrivalled 
career  of  brilliant  victory  and  crushing  defeat,  and 
the  vanity  of  all  earthly  things.  He  frequently 
read  the  Bible.  Count  de  las  Cases  relates^ 
the  following  fact,  which  proves  at  least  his 
respect  for  the  morality  of  the  gospel :  "  The 
Emperor  ended  the  conversation  by  desiring  my 
son  to  bring  him  the  New  Testament ;  and,  taking 
it  from  the  beginning,  he  read  as  far  as  the 
conclusion  of  the  discourse  of  Jesus  on  the  mount. 
He  expressed  himself  struck  with  the  highest  admi- 
ration  of  the  jpurity,  the  suhlimity,  the  beauty  of 
the  morality  which  it  contained ;  and  we  all  ex- 
perienced the  same  feeling.''  Napoleon  said  to 
O'Meara,  Oct.  9,  1866:  ''Credo  tutto  che  crede 
la  chiesa  (I  believe  all  that  the  Church  believes). 
The  Pope  wanted  me  to  confess,  which  I  always 
evaded  by  saying,  'Holy  father  (santo  padre)^  I 
am    too  much  occupied  at  present :  when  I  get 

older '     I  took  a  pleasure  in  conversing  with 

the  Pope,  who  was  a  good  old  man,  ma  testardo  (but 

^  In  his  *'  Memoirs  of  the  Life,  Exile,  and  Conversations  of  the 
Emperor  Napoleon,"  Eng.  trans.,  ed.  N.Y.,  1857,  vdft.  ii.  p.  256. 


NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE.  221 

obstinate).  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  every  per- 
son ought  to  continue  in  the  religion  in  which 
he  was  brought  up,  in  that  of  his  fathers."^ 
In  1 8 17,  March  19,  he  was  reading  a  French 
I^ew  Testament,  when  O'Meara  remarked  that 
some  believed  him  an  unbeKever;  Xapoleon  laughed, 
and  replied :  "  ^Nevertheless  it  is  not  true ;  I  am 
far  from  being  an  atheist  {Cejpendant,  ce  ri  est  pas 
vrai.  Je  suis  loin  d'etre  athee.)  Man  has  need 
of  something  wonderful.  It  is  better  for  him  to 
seek  it  in  religion  than  in  Mile,  le  !N'ormand  "  (a 
celebrated  fortune-teller  at  Paris).  "  Moreover, 
religion  is  a  gre'at  consolation  and  resource  to  those 
who  possess  it,  and  no  man  can  pronounce  what 
he  will  do  in  his  last  moments." 

In  his  last  will  and  testament,  which  was  drawn 
up  six  years  before  his  death,  at  Longwood,  Island 
of  St.  Helena,  he  declares  :  "  I  die  in  the  apostolic 
Eoman  religion,  in  the  bosom  of  which  I  was  born 
more  than  fifty  years  ago."  But  this  is  a  con- 
ventional phrase  in  Eoman  Catholic  countries.  In 
1 8 19  he  sent  for  two  Italian  priests, — the  aged 
Abbe  Buonavita,  who  had  been  chaplain  to  his 
mother  at  Elba  and  to  the  Princess  Pauline  at 
Eome ;  and  the  young  Abbe  Vignali,  who  was 
also  a  physician.  He  professed  his  assent  and 
submission  to  the  faith  and  discipline  of  the 
Catholic  Christian  religion,  attended  mass    every 

^  **  O'Meara,"  i.  121,  Am.  edition. 


222  IMPARTIAL   TESTIMONIES. 

Sunday,  and  received  the  sacrament  of  extreme 
unction  before  his  death. 

These  facts  do  not  justify  the  inference  that 
Napoleon  became  a  true  Christian.  His  public  and 
private  life  exhibit  no  trace  of  piety.  His  sub- 
mission to  the  rites  of  the  Eoman  Church  on  his 
death-bed  is  hardly  sufficient  to  be  construed  into 
an  act  of  genuine  repentance,  and  may  have  been 
dictated  in  part  by  policy,  or  a  prudent  regard  for 
liis  own  reputation,  the  interests  of  his  dynasty, 
and  the  public  sentiment  in  France.  He  died 
amidst  dreams  and  visions  of  war  and  victory. 
"  France  !  Josephine  !  head  of  the*  army  ! "  were 
his  last  wo]«ds, — a  suitable  summing-up  of  his 
life. 

But  I  have  no  doubt  that  his  intellect  bowed  be- 
fore the  majesty  of  Christ.  Eeasoning  from  the 
overpowering  authority  and  dignity  of  Christ  as  a 
teacher,  from  the  amazing  result  of  his  peaceful 
mission,  and  the  imperishable  nature  of  his  king- 
dom as  contrasted  with  the  vanity  of  all  human 
conquests  and  secular  empires,  he  justly  inferred 
that  Christ  was  more  than  man,  that  he  was 
truly  divine,  and  that  his  Divinity  is  the  key 
which  unlocks  the  mysteries  of  Christianity.  In 
this  respect  he  went  further  than  any  of  the 
witnesses  in  this  collection,  who  stop  with  the 
concession  of  the  unparalleled  human  greatness  of 
Christ.      The  locrical  conclusion  of  the  marvellous 


NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE.  223 

intellect  of  N"apoleon,  and  his  profound  know- 
ledge of  men,  may  be  fairly  set  over  against  tlie 
illogical  denial  of  Christ's  Divinity  by  inferior 
minds. 

It  is  with  these  restrictions  that  we  insert  here 
the  famous  testimony  of  the  greatest  military 
genius,  which  has  been  extensively  circulated  by 
Eeligious  Tract  Societies  in  Europe  and  America, 
and  is  embodied,  among  other  books,  in  John  S. 
C.  Abbott's  "  Life  of  JSTapoleon "  (vol.  ii.  chap, 
xxxii.  p.  6 1 2  ff),  as  also  in  Abbott's  "  Confidential 
Correspondence  of  the  Emperor  I^apoleon  with  the 
Empress  Josephine  "  (New  York,  1855,  pp.  353- 
363),  without,  however,  being  traced  to  a  reliable 
source.  General  Bertrand,  an  avowed  unbeliever, 
and  General  Montholon,  who,  after  his  return  to 
Europe,  became  a  believer,  or  at  least  seriously 
inclined,  would  be  the  proper  vouchers,  since  they 
heard,  and  must  have  reported,  these  utterances  at 
St.  Helena;  but  I  cannot  find  them  in  their  writ- 
ings, so  far  as  they  came  to  my  knowledge.  The 
Memoirs  of  Las  Cases,  Antomniarchi,  and  O'Meara, 
and  other  authentic  sources  on  the  life  of  Napoleon 
at  St.  Helena,  contain  some  religious  conversations 
of  the  Emperor  more  or  less  favourable  to  Christi- 
anity and  the  Bible,  but  no  such  strong  and  ex- 
plicit testimony  to  the  Divinity  of  our  Saviour. 
Professor  Sardinoux,  in  his  translation  of  this  work 


2  24  IMPARTIAL    TESTIMONIES. 

("Za  Personne  dc  Jdsus  Christ,''  &c.,  Toulouse,  1868, 
pp.  2  1 9  sqq),  gives  these  conversations  in  full,  with- 
out doubting  the  authenticity.  I  was  informed  by 
French  correspondents  of  high  standing  that  they 
were  reported  verbally  by  General  Montholon,  and 
written  out  by  one  of  his  Protestant  friends  (General 
Maurice  or  Admiral  Yerhuel),  and  that  they  are  gene- 
rally considered  authentic.  They  seem  to  have  been 
published  first  in  1842  and  1843,  in  periodicals 
and  tracts,  and  also  in  a  book  entitled  "  Eobert- 
Antoine  de  Beauterne  :  Sentiments  de  NapoUon  sur 
le  Christianisme.  Conversations  religieuses  recueillies 
d  Sainte-Hdlene,  par  le  Gin.  comte  de  Montholon^ 
Paris,  1843,  third  ed.  (see  the  title  in  Oettinger's 
'' BiUiograpliie  Biographique''),  From  Guerard's 
"  Literature  Frangaise  Contemporaine^'  xix.  Siede, 
torn,  i.,  Paris,  1842,  I  infer  that  this  is  the  same 
author  who  wrote  a  book  entitled :  "  Une  Lamenta- 
tion chretienne,  ou  Mort  d'un  enfant  impie"  Paris, 
1836,  which  contains  a  chapter  on  the  "religious 
death  of  Napoleon." 

How  far  this  book  is  based  upon  personal  com- 
munications of  Montholon  or  other  authentic 
sources,  I  am  unable  to  say,  having  sought  in 
vain  for  a  copy  in  the  public  libraries  of  ^e\Y 
York.  Professor  G.  de  Felice  of  Montauban,  in  a 
letter  to  the  "  New- York  Observer  "  of  April  1 6, 
1842,  asserts  that  the  testimony,  as  published  in 


NAPOLEON   BONAPARTE.  225 

the  French  tract  below,  is  undoubtedly  genuine, 
but  gives  no  proof ;  and  states  also  that  Eev.  Dr. 
Bogue  sent  to  JSTapoleon  at  St.  Helena  a  copy  of 
his  essay  on  the  "  Divinity  and  Authority  of  the 
'New  Testament,"  which,  according  to  the  testimony 
of  eye-witnesses,  he  read  with  interest  and  satis- 
faction. 

In  view  of  all  I  could  gather,  I  am  inclined  to 
believe  that  these  religious  conversations  of  Na- 
poleon have  been  enlarged  or  modified  in  the 
recollection  of  reporters,  but  are  authentic  in 
substance ;  because  they  have  the  grandiloquent 
and  egotistic  manner  of  Kapoleon,  and  are  marked 
by  that  massive  grandeur  and  granite-like  simpli- 
city of  thought  and  style  which  characterise  the 
best  of  his  utterances.  They  are,  moreover,  quite 
consistent  with  the  undeniable  fact,  that  he  ex- 
pressed himself,  both  in  his  testament  and  on  his 
death-bed,  a  believer  in  the  Catholic  Christian 
religion,  which  always  taught  the  Divinity  of 
Christ  as  a  fundamental  article  of  faith. 

We  give  the  testimony  as  we  find  it,  first  in 
a  French  tract,  marked  ISTo.  200,  but  without  date ; 
and  then  in  an  enlarged  form  from  Tract  No.  477 
of  the  American  Tract  Society  (New  York),  and  from 
Abbott's  works  on  Napoleon,  alluded  to  above.  It 
will  be  seen  that  the  French  and  English  differ 
considerably,  but  they  breathe  the  same  spirit. 
29 


226  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 


NAPOLtON* 

"  II  est  vrai  que  le  Christ  projpose  d  notre  foi  une 
s&ie  de  myst^res,  II  commande  avec  autorM  d'y 
croire,  sans  donner  dJautrcs  raisons  que  cette  parole 
epouvantalle :  Je  suis  Dieu. 

*'  Sans  doute  ilfaut  la  foi  pour  cet  article-la,  qui  est 
celui  duquel  derive  tous  les  autres  articles.  Mais 
le  caractere  de  la  diviiiit(5  du  Christ  une  fois  admis, 
la  doctrine  chretienne  se  presente  avec  la  precision 
et  la  clarte  de  I'algebre  :  il  faut  j  admirer  I'enchaine- 
ment  et  Tunite  d'une  science. 

"  Appuy^e  sur  la  Bihle,  cette  doctrine  explique  le 
mieux  les  traditions  du  monde ;  elle  les  dclaircit,  et 
les  autres  dogmes  s'y  rapportent  4troitement  comme  les 
anneaux  scelUs  d'une  mSme  chaine.  L' existence  du 
Christ  d'un  tout  d  V autre  est  un  tissu  tout  mysteri- 
eux,  fen  conviens,  mais  ce  mystdre  r^pond  cb  des  diffi- 
eultds  qui  sont  dans  toiites  les  existences ;  rejctez-le,  le 
monde  est  une  4nigme:  accept ez-le,  vous  avez  une 
admirable  solution  de  Vhistoire  de  Vhomme. 

"  Le  christianisme  a  un  avantage  sur  tous  les  philo- 
sophes  et  sur  toutes  les  religions :  les  chrMens  ne  se 
font  pas  illusion  sur  la  nature  des  choses.     On  ne 

*  Les  documents  que  je  public,  contiennent  la  pensde  intime  de 
Napole'on  sur  le  Christianisme,  et  spdcialement  sur  la  divinite  de 
rilommo-Dieu. 


NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE.  22/ 

^eiit  leur  rep^ocher  ni  la  subtiliUni  le  charlatanisme 
des  idMogueSj  qui  out  cru  r^soudre  la  grande  4nigme 
des  questions  thMogiqueSj  avec  des  vaines  dissertations 
sur  ces  grands  ohjets.  Insens^s,  dont  la  folie  ressemUe 
a  celle  d'un  petit  enfant  qui  veut  toucher  le  del  amc 
sa  main  J  ou  qui  demande  la  lune  pour  son  jouet  ou  sa 
curiosity.  Le  christianisme  dit  avec  simplicity:  ^'  Nid 
homme  n'a  vu  Dicu,  si  ce  n'est  Dieu,  Dieu  a  r4v4U 
ce  qu'il  4tait :  sa  r6v6lation  est  un  mystdre  que  la 
raison  ni  F esprit  ne  peuvent  concevoir.  Mais  puisque 
Dieu  aparUy  ilfaut  y  croire"  Cela  est  d'un  grand 
ton  sens, 

"  VEvangile  possdde  une  vertu  secrdteje  ne  sais  quoi 
d'efficace,  une  chaleur  qui  agit  sur  Ventendement  et 
qui  clmrme  le  coeur  ;  on  4prouve  a  le  mMiter,  ce  qu'on 
4prouve  d  contempler  le  del,  L'Evangile  rCest  pas  un 
livre,  c'est  un  Stre  vivant,  avec  une  action,  une 
puissance,  qui  envahit  tout  ce  qui  ^oppose  a  son 
extension,  Le  void  sur  cette  table,  ce  livre  par 
excellence  [et  id  V Empereur  le  touclia  avec  respect] ; 
je  ne  me  lasse  pas  de  le  lire,  et  tous  les  jours  avec  le 
mSme  plaisir, 

"  Le  Christ  ne  varie  pecs,  il  n'hesite  jamais  dans  son 
enseignement,  et  la  moindre  affirmation  de  lui  est 
marquee  d'un  cachet  de  simplicity  et  de  profondeur 
qui  captive  V ignor ant  et  le  savant,  pour  peu  qu'ils  y 
prStent  leur  attention, 

"  Kulle  part  on  ne  trouve  cette  s4rie  de  helles  id^s,  de 


228  IMPARTIAL   TESTIMONIES. 

hclles  maximes  morales,  qui  dSfilent  comme  les  hataiU 
Ions  de  la  milice  c4leste,  et  qui  produisent  dans  noire 
dme  le  mime  sentiment  que  Von  ^prouve  a  considirer 
V4tendue  infinie  du  ciel  resplendissant,  par  une  telle 
nuit  d'6t6y  de  tout  V6clat  des  astres. 

"  Non-seidement  notre  esprit  est  pr4occup4,  mads  il  est 
doming  par  cette  lecture,  et  jamais  lame  ne  court 
risque  de  s'4garer  avec  ce  livre, 

"  Une  fois  maitre  de  notre  esprit,  VEvangile  fidMe 
nous  aime.  Dieu  mSme  est  notre  ami,  notre  pdre  et 
vraiment  notre  Dieu,  Une  mere  n'a  pasplus  de  soin 
de  Venfant  qvJelle  allaite.  IJame  s6duite  par  la 
heatit^  de  VEvangile,  ne  sappartient  plus.  Dieu  s^en 
empare  tout-a-fait ;  il  en  dirige  les  pensdes  et  toutes 
tesfacult4s,  elle  est  a  ltd, 

"  Quelle  preuve  de  la  divinity  du  Christ  !  avec  un 
empire  aussi  dbsolu,  il  n'a  gu\tn  seul  hut,  Vam4liora- 
tion  spirituelle  des  individus,  la  puret4  de  la  con- 
science, V union  d,  ce  qui  est  vrai,  la  saint et^  de  Vdme, 

"  Enfin,  et  c'est  mon  dernier  argument,  il  ny  a  pas 
de  Dieu  dans  le  ciel,  si  un  Jiomme  a  pu  concevoir  et 
ex^cuter,  avec  un  plein  succds,  le  dessein  gigantesque 
de  d&oher  pour  lui  le  culte  suprSme,  en  tcsurpant  le 
nom  de  Dieu,  J4sus  est  le  seul  qui  Vait  os6,  il  est  le 
seul  qui  ait  dit  clairement,  affirm4  impertwhatlement 
lui-mSme  de  lui-mSme:  Je  suis  Dieu.  Ce  qui  est 
hien  different  de  cette  affirmation :  Je  suis  un  dieu, 
ou  de  cette  autre :  II  y  £i  des  dieux.     L'histoire  ne 


NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE.  229 

mentionne  aiicun  autre  individu  qui  se  soit  qualifi4 
lui-mime  de  ce  litre  de  Dieu  dans  le  sens  ahsolu.  La 
fable  rietdblit  nulle  'part,  que  Jupiter  et  les  autres 
dieux  se  soient  eux-memes  divinises.  Cent  4t4  de  leur 
part  le  comhle  de  Vorgueil,  et  tme  monstruosit^,  une 
extravagance  absurde,  (Jest  la  post4rit4,  ce  sont  les 
Mritiers  des  jpremiers  despotes  qui  les  ont  d4ifi4s. 
Tous  les  hommes  6tant  d'une  mime  race,  Alexandre  a 
pu  se  dire  lefils  de  Jupiter,  Mais  toute  la  GrSce  a 
souri  de  cette  supercherie  ;  et  de  mime  VapotMose  des 
empereurs  remains  rCa  jamais  M  une  chose  s4rieuse 
pour  les  Bomains.  Mahomet  et  Confucius  se  sont 
donnis  simplement  pour  des  agents  de  la  divinity.  La 
diesse  Egerie  de  Numa,  rCa  jamais  dt6  que  la  person- 
nification  d'une  inspiration  puis4e  dans  la  solitude 
des  hois,  Les  dieux  Brccma,  de  VInde,  sont  une  inno- 
vation psychologique, 

"  Comment  done  unjuif  dont  V existence  historique 
est  plus  av4r6  que  toutes  celles  des  temps  oil  il  a  v4cu, 
lui  seul,  fils  d'un  charpentier,  se  donne-t-il  tout 
d'ahord  pour  Dieu  mime,  pour  Vitre  par  excellence, 
pour  le  Cr6ateur  de  tous  les  itres,  LI  sarroge  toutes 
les  sortes  d' adorations,  LI  hdtit  son  culte  de  ses  mains, 
non  avec  des  pierres,  mais  avec  des  hommes.  On  s'ex- 
tasie  sur  les  conquetes  d' Alexandre  !  Eh  lien  !  void 
un  conquirant  qui  confisque  a  son  profit,  qui  unity 
qui  incorpore  d  lui-meme,  non  pas  une  nation,  mais 


230  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

Vespke  humaine.  Quel  miracle !  Vdnie  humaine, 
avec  toiites  ses  facult^s,  devient  une  annexe  avec  V exis- 
tence du  Christ. 

"  Ut  comment  ?  'par  un  prodige  qui  surpasse  tout 
prodif/e,  II  veut  V amour  des  hommes,  cest-a-dire,  ce 
quil  est  le  plus  dijfflcile  au  monde  d'oUenir :  ce  quun 
sage  demande  vainement  db  quelqiies  amis,  un  phre  d 
ses  enfants,  une  4pouse  a  son  ^poux,  un  fr^re  a  son 
frhre,  en  un  mot,  le  coeur :  cest  la  ce  quil  veut  pour 
lui,  il  Vexige  absolument,  et  il  y  r^ussit  tout  de  suite, 
tPen  conclus  sa  divinity,  Alexandre,  C^sar,  Annihal, 
Louis  XIV.,  avec  tout  leur  g4nie,  y  out  4cliou4.  lis 
ont  conquis  le  monde  et  il  n^ont  pu  parvenir  d  avoir 
un  ami.  Je  suis  peut-itre  le  seul,  de  nos  jours,  qui 
aime  Annihal,  C6sar,  Alexandre.  Le  grand  Louis 
XIV.,  qui  a  jet4  tant  d'4clat  sur  la  France  et  dans  le 
monde,  n'avait  pas  un  ami  dans  tout  son  royaume, 
meme  dans  sa  famille.  II  est  vrai,  nous  aimons  nos 
enfants :  pourquoi  ?  Nous  ohSissons  d  un  instinct  de 
la  nature,  d  une  volont6  de  Dieu,  d  une  n4cessit4  que 
les  hStes  elles-mSmes  reconnaissent  et  remplissent ;  mais 
combien  d' enfants  qui  restent  insensihles  d  nos  caresses, 
d  tant  de  soins  que  nous  leur  prodiguons,  combien 
d' enfants  ingrats?  Vos  enfants,  g^ndral  Bertrand, 
vous  aiment-ils  ?  vous  les  aimez,  et  vous  n'Stes  pas  sllr 
ditre  pay6  de  retour.  Ni  vos  hienfaits,  ni  la  nature^ 
ne  rdnssiront  jamais  d  leur  inspirer  un  amour  tel  que 
celui  des  chr^tiens  pour  Dieu !    Si  vous  veniez  d 


NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE.  23 1 

mourir,  vos  enfants  se  souviendraient  de  vous  en 
d4pensant  voire  fortuney  sans  doute,  mais  vos  ^petits 
enfants  sauraient  A  peine  si  vous  avez  exisU,  Et 
vous  ites  le  gMral  Bertrand  !  Et  nous  sommes  dans 
une  He,  et  vous  n'avez  d' autre  distraction  que  la  vue 
de  votre  famille. 

"  Le  Christ  jparhy  et  d^sormais  les  generations  lui  ay- 
'partiennent  jpar  des  liens  jplus  etroits,  plus  intimes  que 
ceux  du  sang ;  par  une  union  plus  saer^e,  plus  im- 
p6rieuse  que  quelque  union  que  ce  soit,  II  allume  la 
Jiamme  d'un  amour  qui  fait  mourir  V amour  de  soi, 
qui  pr4vaut  sur  tout  autre  amour, 

"  A  ce  miracle  de  sa  volonte,  comment  ne  pas  recon- 
naitre  le  Verhe  crMeur  du  monde, 

"  Les  fondateurs  de  religion  n'ontpcts  mime  eu  Vid^e 
de  cet  amour  mystique,  qui  est  V essence  du  christian- 
isme,  sous  le  heau  nom  de  charity, 

"  G'est  quHl  n'avaient  garde  de  se  lancer  contre  un 
4cueiL  Cest  que  dans  une  operation  semhlaUe,  se 
faire  aimer,  Vhomme  porte  en  lui-mime  le  sentiment 
profond  de  son  impuissance, 

^*  Aussi  le  plus  grand  miracle  du  Christ,  sans  con- 
tredit,  cest  le  rdgne  de  la  charite, 

"  Zui  seuly  il  est  parvenu  d  Clever  le  coeur  des  hom- 
mes  jusqud  V invisible,  jusqu'au  sacrifice  du  temps : 
lui  seul,  en  errant  cette  immolation,  a  crU  un  lien 
eiitre  le  del  et  la  terre, 

"  Tous  ceux  qui  croient  sincerement  en  lui  ressentent 


232  IMPARTIAL   TESTIMONIES. 

cet  amour  admirable,  siir natural,  sujp^rimr ;  pMnO' 
mdne  ineocplicahle,  impossihle  a  la  raison,  et  aux  forces 
de  Vhomme  ;  feu  sacr6  donn4  d  la  terre  par  ce  nouveau 
Prom6tMe,  dont  le  temps,  ce  grand  destructeur,  ne  joeut 
ni  user  la  force  ni  limiter  la  dur4e,  Moi,  NajpoUon, 
c'est  ce  que  f  admire  davantage,  parce  que  fy  ai  pens4 
souvent.  Et  dest  ce  qui  me  prouve  ahsolument  la  di- 
vi7iit4  du  Christ ! 

"  J'ai  passionn4  des  midtitudes  qui  mouraient  pour 
moi.  A  Dieu  ne  plaise  que  je  forme  aucune  compar- 
aison  entre  Venthousiasme  des  soldats  et  la  charity 
chretienne,  qui  sont  aussi  diffdrents  que  leur  cause. 

"  Ifais  enfln,  il  fallait  ma  presence,  V4lectricit4  de 
mon  regard,  mon  accent,  une  parole  de  moi ;  alors, 
fallumais  le  feu  sacr6  dans  les  cceurs.  Certes  je  pos- 
sMe  le  secret  de  cette  puissance  magique  qui  enUve 
V esprit,  mais  je  ne  saurais  le  communiquer  a  per- 
Sonne  ;  aucun  de  mes  g6n6raux  ne  Va  regu  ou  devin4 
de  moi;  je  n'ai  pas  d'avantage  le  secret  d'4terniser 
mon  nom  et  mon  amour  dans  les  cxurs,  et  d'y  opdrer 
des  prodiges  sans  les  secours  de  la  matidre. 

"  Maintenant  que  je  suis  a  Sainte-H6Une — mainte- 
nant  que  je  suis  seul  et  cloud  sur  ce  roc,  qui  hataille  et 
conquiert  des  empires  pour  moi  ?  Oil  sont  les  courti- 
sans  de  mon  infortune  ?  Pense-t-on  a  moi  ?  Qui  se 
remuepour  moi  en  Europe  ?  Qui  m'est  demeur6fidde, 
OIL  sont  mes  amis  ?  Oui,  deux  ou  trois,  que  voire  fidd- 
lit4  immortalise,  vous  pdrtagez,  vous  consolez  mon  e?dl'^ 


NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE.  233 

Id  la  voix  de  V Emjpereur  jprit  un  accent  particulier 
d'ironique  mdancolie  et  de  profonde  tristesse. 

*' Oui,  notre  existence  a  hrilU  de  tout  Vdclat  du 
diadSme  et  de  la  souverainet4 ;  et  la  voire,  Bertrand, 
r^flechissait  cet  Mat  comme  le  dome  des  Invalides,  dorS 
'par  nam,  rdjidchit  les  rayons  du  soleil.  Mais  les  revers 
sont  venus,  Vor  peu  a  pen  s'est  effacL  La  pluie  du 
riialheur  et  des  outrages,  dont  on  m'dbreuve  chaquejour, 
en  emporte  les  dernidres  jparcelles.  Nous  ne  sommes 
plus  que  du  plomh,  g6n4ral  Bertrand,  et  hiendt  Je  serai 
de  la  terre, 

"  Telle  est  la  destin6e  des  grands  hommes  !  Telle 
de  C6sar  et  d' Alexandre,  et  Von  nous  ouhlie !  et  le 
nom  d'un  conqu&ant,  comme  celui  d'un  empereur^ 
nest  plus  qiLun  tMme  de  colUge  !  Nos  exploits  torn- 
he7it  sous  la  f&ule  d'un  pMant  qui  nous  insulte  ou 
nous  loue. 

"  Que  de  jugements  divers  on  se  permet  sur  le  grand 
Louis  XIV,  !  A  peine  mort,  le  grand  roi  lui-meme 
fut  laiss4  setd,  dans  Visolcment  de  sa  chamhre  cb 
coucher  de  Versailles — n4glig6  par  ses  courtisans  et 
petct-Stre  Vohjet  de  la  ris4e.  Ce  VbUait  plus  leur 
maitre  !  C'6tait  un  cadavre,  un  cercueil,  une  fosse, 
et  lliorreur  d'une  imminent e  decomposition. 

"  Encore  un  moment : — voildj  mon  sort  et  ce  qui  va 
Triarriver  a  moi-mSme — assassin^  par  F oligarchic 
anglaise,  je  meurs  avant  le  temps,  et  mon  cadavre 
30 


234  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

aussi  va  itre  rendu  d  la  terre  jpour  y  devenir  la 
fdture  des  vers. 

"  Voild  la  destin^e  trds  prochaine  du  grand  Napo- 
l4on — Quel  ahime  entre  ma  misdre  jprofonde,  et  le 
rdgne  4ternel  du  Christ  pr^cM,  encens6,  aim4,  ador^, 
vivant  dans  tout  Vunivers — Est-ce  Id  mourir  ?  n'est- 
ce  pas  plutot  vivre  ?  voild  la  mort  dii  Christ  ?  voild 
celle  de  Dieu.'^ 

L'empereur  se  tut,  et  comme  le  g4n4ral  Bertrand 
gardait  4galement  le  silence:  "  Vous  ne  comprenez 
pas"  reprit  Vempereur,  '^  que  Jdsus-Christ  est  Dieu; 
eh  Hen  !  fai  eu  tort  de  vous /aire  g4n4ral !" 


NAPOLEON. 

One  day,  Napoleon  was  speaking  of  the  Divinity 
of  Christ ;  when  General  Bertrand  said : — 

"  I  cannot  conceive,  sire,  how  a  great  man  like 
you  can  believe  that  the  Supreme  Being  ever 
exhibited  himself  to  men  under  a  human  form, 
with  a  body,  a  face,  mouth,  and  eyes.  Let  Jesus 
be  whatever  you  please, — the  highest  intelligence, 
the  purest  heart,  the  most  profound  legislator,  and, 
in  all  respects,  the  most  singular  being  who  has 
ever  existed:  I  grant  it.  Still,  he  was  simply  a 
man,  who  taught  his  disciples,  and  deluded  credu- 


NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE.  235 

lous  people,  as  did  Orpheus,  Confucius,  Brahma. 
Jesus  caused  himself  to  be  adored,  because  his 
predecessors,  Isis  and  Osiris,  Jupiter  and  Juno, 
had  proudly  made  themselves  objects  of  worship. 
The  ascendancy  of  Jesus  over  his  time  was  like 
the  ascendancy  of  the  gods  and  the  heroes  of  fable. 
If  Jesus  has  impassioned  and  attached  to  his 
chariot  the  multitude,  if  he  has  revolutionised  the 
world,  I  see  in  that  only  the  power  of  genius,  and 
the  action  of  a  commanding  spirit,  which  van- 
quishes the  world,  as  so  many  conquerors  have 
done — Alexander,  Csesar,  you,  sire,  and  Moham- 
med— with  a  sword." 

Napoleon  replied : — 

"  I  know  men ;  and  I  tell  you  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  not  a  man.  Superficial  minds  see  a 
resemblance  between  Christ  and  the  founders  of 
empires,  and  the  gods  of  other  religions.  That 
resemblance  does  not  exist.  There  is  between 
Christianity  and  whatever  other  religions  the  dis- 
tance of  infinity. 

"We  can  say  to  the  authors  of  every  other 
religion,  *  You  are  neither  gods,  nor  the  agents  of 
the  Deity.  You  are  but  missionaries  of  falsehood, 
moulded  from  the  same  clay  with  the  rest  of 
mortals.  You  are  made  with  all  the  passions  and 
vices  inseparable  from  them.  Your  temples  and 
your  priests  proclaim  your  origin.'     Such  will  be 


236  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

the  judgment,  the  cry  of  conscience,  of  whoever 
examines  the  gods  and  the  temples  of  paganism. 

"  Paganism  was  never  accepted  as  truth  by  the 
wise  men  of  Greece  ;  neither  by  Socrates,  Pytha- 
goras, Plato,  Anaxagoras,  or  Pericles.  On  the 
other  side,  the  loftiest  intellects,  since  the  advent 
of  Christianity,  have  had  faith,  a  living  faith,  a 
practical  faith,  in  the  mysteries  and  the  doctrines 
of  the  gospel ;  not  only  Bossuet  and  Fenelon 
who  were  preachers,  but  Descartes  and  ISTewton, 
Leibnitz  and  Pascal,  Corneille  and  Eacine,  Charle- 
magne and  Louis  XIV. 

"  Paganism  is  the  work  of  man.  One  can  here 
read  but  our  imbecility.  What  do  these  gods,  so 
boastful,  know  more  than  other  mortals ;  these 
legislators,  Greek  or  Eoman ;  this  ISTuma ;  this 
Lycurgus ;  these  priests  of  India  or  of  Memphis ; 
this  Confucius ;  this  Mohammed  ?  —  absolutely 
nothing.  They  have  made  a  perfect  chaos  of 
mortals.  There  is  not  one  among  them  all  who 
has  said  any  thing  new  in  reference  to  our  future 
destiny,  to  the  soul,  to  the  essence  of  God,  to  the 
•  creation.  Enter  the  sanctuaries  of  paganism  :  you 
there  find  perfect  chaos,  a  thousand  contradictions, 
war  between  the  gods,  the  immobility  of  sculp- 
ture, the  division  and  the  rending  of  unity,  the 
parcelling  out  of  the  divine  attributes  mutilated  or 
denied  in  their  essence,  the  sophisms  of  ignorance 


NAPOLEON  BONAPAKTE.  237 

and  presumption,  polluted  fetes,  impurity  and 
abomination  adored,  all  sorts  of  corruption  fester- 
ing in  the  thick  shades,  with  the  rotten  wood,  the 
idol,  and  the  priest.  Does  this  honour  God,  or 
does  it  dishonour  him  ?  Are  these  religions  and 
these  gods  to  be  compared  with  Christianity  ? 

"As  for  me,  I  say,  No.  I  summon  the  entire 
Olympus  to  my  tribunal.  I  judge  the  gods,  but 
am  far  from  prostrating  myself  before  their  vain 
images.  The  gods,  the  legislators  of  India  and  of 
China,  of  Eome  and  of  Athens,  have  nothing  which 
can  overawe  me.  E'ot  that  I  am  unjust  to  them. 
No :  I  appreciate  them,  because  1  know  their 
value.  Undeniably,  princes,  whose  existence  is 
fixed  in  the  memory  as  an  image  of  order  and  of 
power,  as  the  ideal  of  force  and  beauty,  such 
princes  were  no  ordinary  men. 

"  I  see  in  Lycurgus,  ISTuma,  and  Mohammed, 
only  legislators,  who  have  the  first  rank  in  the 
state ;  have  sought  the  best  solution  of  the  social 
problem:  but  I  see  nothing  there  which  reveals 
Divinity.  They  themselves  have  never  raised 
their  pretensions  so  high.  As  for  me,  I  recognise 
the  gods,  and  these  great  men,  as  beings  like  my- 
self. They  have  performed  a  lofty  part  in  their 
times,  as  I  have  done.  Nothing  announces  them 
divine.  On  the  contrary,  there  are  numerous 
resemblances  between  them  and  myself, — foibles 


238  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

and  errors  which  ally  them  to  me  and  to  hu- 
manity. 

"  It  is  not  so  with  Christ.  Everything  in  him 
astonishes  me.  His  spirit  overawes  me,  and  his 
will  confounds  me.  Between  him  and  whoever 
else  in  the  world  there  is  no  possible  term  of  com- 
parison. He  is  truly  a  being  by  himself.  His 
ideas  and  his  sentiments,  the  truth  which  he 
announces,  his  manner  of  convincing,  are  not 
explained  either  by  human  organisation  or  by  the 
nature  of  things. 

"His  birth,  and  the  history  of  his  life;  the 
profundity  of  his  doctrine,  which  grapples  the 
mightiest  difficulties,  and  which  is  of  those  diffi- 
culties the  most  admirable  solution;  his  gospel, 
his  apparition,  his  empire,  his  march  across  the 
ages  and  the  realms, — everything  is  for  me  a 
prodigy,  a  mystery  insoluble,  which  plunges  me 
into  reveries  which  I  cannot  escape;  a  mystery 
which  is  there  before  my  eyes ;  a  mystery  which 
I  can  neither  deny  nor  explain.  Here  I  see  no- 
thing human. 

"  The  nearer  I  approach,  the  more  carefully  I 
examine,  everything  is  above  me;  everything 
remains  grand, — of  a  grandeur  which  overpowers. 
His  religion  is  a  revelation  from  an  intelligence 
which  certainly  is  not  that  of  man.  There  is 
there  a  profound  originality  which  has  created  a 


NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE.  239 

series  of  words  and  of  maxims  before  unknown. 
Jesus  borrowed  nothing  from  our  science.  One 
can  absolutely  find  nowhere,  but  in  him  alone, 
the  imitation  or  the  example  of  his  life.  He  is 
not  a  philosopher,  since  he  advances  by  miracles ; 
and,  from  the  commencement,  his  disciples  wor- 
shipped him.  He  persuaded  them  far  mere  by  an 
appeal  to  the  heart  than  by  any  display  of  method 
and  of  logic.  Neither  did  he  impose  upon  them 
any  preliminary  studies,  or  any  knowledge  of 
letters.     All  his  religion  consists  in  believing. 

"In  fact,  the  sciences  and  philosophy  avail 
nothing  for  salvation;  and  Jesus  came  into  the 
world  to  reveal  the  mysteries  of  heaven  and  the 
laws  of  the  spirit.  Also  he  has  nothing  to  do  but 
with  the  soul ;  and  to  that  alone  he  brings  his  gospel. 
The  soul  is  sufficient  for  him,  as  he  is  sufficient 
for  the  soul.  Before  him,  the  soul  was  nothing. 
Matter  and  time  were  the  masters  of  the  world. 
At  his  voice,  everything  returns  to  order.  Science 
and  philosophy  become  secondary.  The  soul  has 
reconquered  its  sovereignty.  All  the  scholastic 
scaffolding  falls  as  an  edifice  ruined,  before  one 
single  word, — faith. 

"  What  a  master,  and  what  a  word,  which  can 
effect  such  a  revolution!  With  what  authority 
does  he  teach  men  to  pray !  He  imposes  his  belief ; 
and  no  one,  thus  far,  has  been  able  to  contradict 


240  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

him :  first,  because  the  gospel  contains  the  purest 
morality ;  and  also  because  the  doctrine  which  it 
contains  of  obscurity  is  only  the  proclamation  and 
the  truth  of  that  which  exists  where  no  eye  can 
see,  and  no  reason  can  penetrate.  Who  is  the  in- 
sensate who  will  say  '  N*o '  to  the  intrepid  voyager 
who  recounts  the  marvels  of  the  icy  peaks  which 
he  alone  has  had  the  boldness  to  visit  ?  Christ  is 
that  bold  voyager.  One  can,  doubtless,  remain  in- 
credulous ;  but  no  one  can  venture  to  say,  *  It  is 
not  so.' 

"  Moreover,  consult  the  philosophers  upon  those 
mysterious  questions  which  relate  to  the  essence 
of  man  and  the  essence  of  religion.  What  is  their 
response  ?  Where  is  the  man  of  good  sense  who 
has  never  learned  anything  from  the  system  of 
metaphysics,  ancient  or  moderUj  which  is  not  truly 
a  vain  and  pompous  ideology,  without  any  connec- 
tion with  our  domestic  life,  with  our  passions  ? 
Unquestionably,  with  skill  in  thinking,  one  can 
seize  the  key  of  the  philosophy  of  Socrates  and 
Plato.  But,  to  do  this,  it  is  necessary  to  be  a 
metaphysician ;  and  moreover,  with  years  of  study, 
one  must  possess  special  aptitude.  But  good  sense 
alone,  the  heart,  an  honest  spirit,  are  sufficient  to 
comprehend  Christianity.  The  Christian  religion 
is  neither  ideology  nor  metaphysics,  but  a  practical 
rule  which  directs  the  actions  of  man,  corrects  him, 


NAPOLEON   BONAPARTE.  24 1 

counsels  him,  and  assists  him  in  all  his  conduct. 
The  Bible  contains  a  complete  series  of  facts  and 
of  historical  men,  to  explain  time  and  eternity, 
such  as  no  other  religion  has  to  offer.  If  it  is  not 
the  true  religion,  one  is  very  excusable  in  being 
deceived ;  for  everything  in  it  is  grand,  and  worthy 
of  God.  I  search  in  vain  in  history  to  find  the 
similar  to  Jesus  Christ,  or  anything  which  can  ap- 
proach the  gospel.  Neither  history,  nor  humanity, 
nor  the  ages,  nor  nature,  offer  me  anything  with 
which  I  am  able  to  compare  it  or  to  explain  it. 
Here  everything  is  extraordinary.  The  more  I 
consider  the  gospel,  the  more  I  am  assured  that 
there  is  nothing  there  which  is  not  beyond  the 
march  of  events,  and  above  the  human  mind.  Even 
the  impious  themselves  have  never  dared  to  deny 
the  sublimity  of  the  gospel,  which  inspires  them 
with  a  sort  of  compulsory  veneration.  What  hap- 
piness that  book  procures  for  those  who  believe  it ! 
What  marvels  those  admire  there  who  reflect  upon 
it! 

"All  the  words  there  are  embedded,  and  joined 
one  upon  another,  like  the  stones  of  an  edifice.  The 
spirit  which  binds  these  words  together  is  a  divine 
cement,  which  now  reveals  the  sense,  and-  again 
veils  it  from  the  mind.  Each  phrase  has  a  sense 
complete,  which  traces  the  perfection  of  unity  and 
the  profundity  of  the  whole.  Book  unique  !  where 
31 


242  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

the  mind  finds  a  moral  beauty  before  unknown ; 
and  an  idea  of  the  Supreme,  superior  even  to  that 
which  creation  suggests.  Who  but  God  could 
produce  that  type,  that  idea  of  perfection,  equally 
exclusive  and  original  ? 

"  Christ,  having  but  a  few  weak  disciples,  was 
condemned  to  death.  He  died  the  object  of  the 
wrath  of  the  Jewish  priests,  and  of  the  contempt 
of  the  nation,  and  abandoned  and  denied  by  his 
own  disciples.     - 

"'They  are  about  to  take  me,  and  to  crucify 
me,'  said  he.  *I  shall  be  abandoned  of  all  the 
world.  My  chief  disciples  will  deny  me  at  the 
commencement  of  my  punishment.  I  shall  be  left 
to  the  wicked.  But  then,  divine  justice  being 
satisfied,  original  sin  being  expiated  by  my  suffer- 
ings, the  bond  of  man  to  God  will  be  renewed,  and 
my  death  will  be  the  life  of  my  disciples.  Then 
they  will  be  more  strong  without  me  than  with 
me;  for  they  shall  see  me  rise  again.  I  shall 
ascend  to  the  skies,  and  I  shall  send  to  them  from 
heaven  a  Spirit  who  will  instruct  them.  The  Spirit 
of  the  Cross  will  enable  them  to  understand  my 
gospel.  In  fine,  they  will  believe  it;  they  will 
preach  it ;  and  they  will  convert  the  world.' 

"And  this  strange  promise,  so  aptly  called  by 
Paul  *  the  foolishness  of  the  cross,'  this  prediction 
of  one  miserably  crucified,  is  literally  accomplished ; 


NAPOLEON   BONAPARTE.  243 

and  the  mode  of  the  accomplishment  is  perhaps 
more  prodigious  than  the  promise. 

"  It  is  not  a  day,  nor  a  battle,  which  has  decided 
it.  Is  it  the  lifetime  of  a  man?  No:  it  is  a 
war,  a  long  combat,  of  three  hundred  years,  com- 
menced by  the  apostles,  and  continued  by  their 
successors  and  by  succeeding  generations  of  Chris- 
tians. In  this  conflict,  all  the  kings  and  all  the 
forces  of  the  earth  were  arrayed  on  one  side.  Upon 
the  other,  I  see  no  army  but  a  mysterious  energy, 
individuals  scattered  here  and  there,  in  all  parts  of 
the  globe,  having  no  other  rallying  sign  than  a 
common  faith  in  the  mysteries  of  the  Cross. 

"  What  a  mysterious  symbol,  the  instrument  of 
the  punishment  of  the  Man- God !  His  disciples 
were  armed  with  it.  *  The  Christ,'  they  said,  '  God, 
has  died  for  the  salvation  of  men.'  What  a  strife, 
what  a  tempest,  these  simple  words  have  raised 
around  the  humble  standard  of  the  punishment  of 
the  Man- God !  On  the  one  side  we  see  rage  and 
all  the  furies  of  hatred  and  violence  ;  on  the  other 
there  are  gentleness,  jnoral  courage,  infinite  resig- 
nation. For  three  hu^ndred  years,  spirit  struggled 
against  the  brutality  of  sense,  conscience  against 
despotism,  the  soul  against  the  body,  virtue  against 
all  the  vices.  The  blood  of  Christians  flowed  in 
torrents.  They  died  kissing  the  hand  which  slew 
them.     The  soul  alone  protested,  while  the  body 


244  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

surrendered  itself  to  all  tortures.  Everywhere 
Christians  fell,  and  everywhere  they  triumphed. 

"You  speak  of  Caesar,  of  Alexander,  of  their 
conquests,  and  of  the  enthusiasm  which  they  en- 
kindled in  the  hearts  of  their  soldiers ;  but  can  you 
conceive  of  a  dead  man  making  conquests,  with  an 
army  faithful,  and  entirely  devoted  to  his  memory  ? 
My  armies  have  forgotten  me  even  while  living,  as 
the  Carthaginian  army  forgot  Hannibal.  Such  is 
our  power !  A  single  battle  lost  crushes  us,  and 
adversity  scatters  our  friends. 

"  Can  you  conceive  of  Caesar  as  the  eternal  em- 
peror of  the  Eoman  senate,  and,  from  the  depth  of 
his  mausoleum,  governing  the  empire,  watching 
over  the  destinies  of  Eome  ?  Such  is  the  history 
of  the  invasion  and  conquest  of  the  world  by 
Christianity ;  such  is  the  power  of  the  God  of  the 
Christians;  and  such  is  the  perpetual  miracle  of 
the  progress  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  government  of 
his  Church.  Nations  pass  away,  thrones  crumble ; 
but  the  Church  remains.  What  is,  then,  the  power 
which  has  protected  this  Church,  thus  assailed  by 
the  furious  billows  of  rage  and  the  hostility  of 
ages  ?  Whose  is  the  arm  which,  for  eighteen 
hundred  years,  has  protected  the  Church  from  so 
many  storms  which  have  threatened  to  engulf  it  ? 

"Alexander,  Caesar,  Charlemagne,  and  myself 
founded  empires.     But  on  what  did  we  rest  the 


NAPOLEON  BONAPAHTE.  24S 

creations  of  our  genius  ?  Upon  force.  Jesus  Christ 
alone  founded  his  empire  upon  love ;  and,  at  this 
hour,  millions  of  men  would  die  for  him. 

"  In  every  other  existence  but  that  of  Christ, 
how  many  imperfections  !  Where  is  the  character 
which  has  not  yielded,  vanquished  by  obstacles  ? 
Where  is  the  individual  who  has  never  been  gov- 
erned by  circumstances  or  places ;  who  has  never 
succumbed  to  the  influences  of  the  times ;  who  has 
never  compounded  with  any  customs  or  passions  ? 
From  the  first  day  to  the  last  he  is  the  same, 
always  the  same;  majestic  and. simple;  infinitely 
firm,  and  infinitely  gentle. 

"Truth  should  embrace  the  universe.  Such  is 
Christianity, — the  only  religion  which  destroys 
sectional  prejudices ;  the  only  one  which  proclaims 
the  unity  and  the  absolute  brotherhood  of  the  whole 
human  family ;  the  only  one  which  is  purely  spiri- 
tual ;  in  fine,  the  only  one  which  assigns  to  all, 
without  distinction,  for  a  true  country,  the  bosom 
of  the  Creator,  God.  Christ  proved  that  he  was 
the  Son  of  the  Eternal  by  his  disregard  of  time. 
All  his  doctrines  signify  one  only  and  the  same 
thing, — eternity. 

"  It  is  true  that  Christ  proposes  to  our  faith  a 
series  of  mysteries.  He  commands  with  authority, 
that  we  should  believe  them, — giving  no  other 
reason  than  those  tremendous  words,  '  I  am  God.' 


246  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

He  declares  it.  What  an  abyss  he  creates,  by  that 
declaration,  between  himself  and  all  the  fabricators 
of  religion !  What  audacity,  what  sacrilege,  what 
blasphemy,  if  it  were  not  true  !  I  say  more :  The 
universal  triumph  of  an  affirmation  of  that  kind, 
if  the  triumph  were  not  really  that  of  God  him- 
self, would  be  a  plausible  excuse,  and  the  proof  of 
atheism. 

"Moreover,  in  propounding  mysteries,  Christ 
is  harmonious  with  Nature,  which  is  profoundly 
mysterious.  From  whence  do  I  come  ?  whither 
do  I  go  ?  who  am  I  ?  Human  life  is  a  mystery 
in .  its  origin,  its  organisation,  and  its  end.  In 
man  and  out  of  man,  in  J^ature,  everything  is 
mysterious.  And  can  one  wish  that  religion 
should  not  be  mysterious  ?  The  creation  and  the 
destiny  of  the  world  are  an  unfathomable  abyss, 
as  also  are  the  creation  and  destiny  of  each  indi- 
vidual. Christianity  at  least  does  not  evade  these 
great  questions ;  it  meets  them  boldly :  and  our 
doctrines  are  a  solution  of  them  for  every  one  who 
believes. 

"  The  gospel  possesses  a  secret  virtue,  a  mys- 
terious efficacy,  a  warmth  which  penetrates  and 
soothes  the  heart.  One  finds,  in  meditating  upon 
it,  that  which  one  experiences  in  contemplating 
the  heavens.  The  gospel  is  not  a  book:  it  is 
a  living  being,  with  an   action,  a   power,  which 


NAPOLEON   BONAPAETE.  247 

invades  everything  that  opposes  its  extension.  Be- 
hold !  it  is  upon  this  table :  this  book,  surpassing 
all  others  "  [here  the  emperor  deferentially  placed 
his  hand  upon  it],  "  I  never  omit  to  read  it,  and 
every  day  with  the  same  pleasure. 

"  Nowhere  is  to  be  found  such  a  series  of  beauti- 
ful ideas;  admirable  moral  maxims,  which  pass 
before  us  like  the  battalions  of  a  celestial  army, 
and  which  produce  in  our  soul  the  same  emotions 
which  one  experiences  in  contemplating  the  infi- 
nite expanse  of  the  skies,  resplendent  in  a  sum- 
mer's night  with  all  the  brilliance  of  the  stars.  Not 
only  is  our  mind  absorbed;  it  is  controlled: 
and  the  soul  can  never  go  astray  with  this 
book  for  its  guide.  Once  master  of  our  spirit, 
the  faithful  gospel  loves  us.  God  even  is  our 
friend,  our  father,  and  truly  our  God.  The 
mother  has  no  greater  care  for  the  infant  whom 
she  nurses. 

"  What  a  proof  of  the  Divinity  of  Christ !  With 
an  empire  so  absolute,  he  has  but  one  single  end, 
— the  spiritual  melioration  of  individuals,  the 
purity  of  the  conscience,  the  imion  to  that  which 
is  true,  the  holiness  of  the  soul. 

"  Christ  speaks,  and  at  once  generations  become 
his  by  stricter,  closer  ties  than  those  of  blood, — by 
the  most  sacred,  the  most  indissoluble,  of  unions. 
He  lights  up  the  flames  of  a  love  which  prevails 


248  ij\:partial  testimonies. 

over  every  other  love.  The  founders  of  other 
religions  never  conceived  of  this  mystical  love, 
which  is  the  essence  of  Christianity,  and  is  beauti- 
fully called  charity.  In  every  attempt  to  effect 
this  thing,  viz.,  to  make  himself  beloved,  man 
deeply  feels  his  own  impotence.  So  that  Christ's 
greatest  miracle  undoubtedly  is  the  reign  of 
charity. 

"  I  have  so  inspired  multitudes,  that  they  would 
die  for  me.  God  forbid  that  I  should  form  any 
comparison  between  the  enthusiasm  of  the  soldier 
and  Christian  charity,  which  are  as  unlike  as  their 
cause. 

"But,  after  all,  my  presence  was  necessary: 
the  lightning  of  my  eye,  my  voice,  a  word  from 
me,  then  the  sacred  fire  was  kindled  in  their  hearts. 
I  do,  indeed,  possess  the  secret  of  this  magical 
power  which  lifts  the  soul ;  but  I  could  never  im- 
part it  to  any  one.  None  of  my  generals  ever 
learned  it  from  me.  'Not  have  I  the  means  of 
perpetuating  my  name  and  love  for  me  in  the 
hearts  of  men,  and  to  effect  these  things  without 
physical  means. 

"  !N"ow  that  I  am  at  St.  Helena,  now  that  I  am 
alone,  chained  upon  this  rock,  who  fights  and  wins 
empires  for  me  ?  who  are  the  courtiers  of  my  mis- 
fortunes ?  who  thinks  of  me  ?  who  makes  effort 
for  me  in  Europe  ?     Where  are  my  friends  ?     Yes : 


NAPOLEON   BONArAKTE.  249 

two  or  three,  whom  your  fidelity  immortalises,  you 
share,  you  console,  my  exile." 

Here  the  emperor  s  voice  trembled  with  emotion, 
and  for  a  moment  he  was  silent.  He  then  con- 
tinued : — 

"  Yes :  our  life  once  shone  with  all  the  bril- 
liance of  the  diadem  and  the  throne ;  and  yours, 
Bertrand,  reflected  that  splendour,  as  th^  dome  of 
the  Invalides,  gilt  by  us,  reflects  the  rays  of  the 
sun.  But  disaster  came :  the  gold  gradually  be- 
came dim.  The  rain  of  misfortune  and  outrage, 
with  which  I  am  daily  deluged,  has  effaced  all  the 
bricrhtness.  We  are  mere  lead  now,  General  Ber- 
trand ;  and  soon  I  shall  be  in  my  grave. 

"  Such  is  the  fate  of  great  men  !  So  it  was 
with  Caesar  and  Alexander.  And  I,  too,  am  for- 
gotten; and  the  name  of  a  conqueror  and  an 
emperor  is  a  college  theme !  Our  exploits  are 
tasks  given  to  pupils  by  their  tutors,  who  sit  in 
judgment  upon  us,  awarding  censure  or  praise. 
And  mark  what  is  soon  to  become  of  me :  assassi- 
nated by  the  English  oligarchy,  I  die  before  my 
time ;  and  my  dead  body,  too,  must  return  to  the 
earth,  to  become  food  for  worms.  Behold  the  des- 
tiny, near  at  hand,  of  him  whom  the  world  called 
the  Great  N^apoleon  !  What  an  abyss  between  my 
deep  misery  and  the  eternal  reign  of  Christ,  which 
is  proclaimed,  loved,  adored,  and  which  is  extend- 
32 


2SO  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

ing  over  all  the  earth !  Is  this  to  die  ?  is  it  not 
rather  to  live  ?  The  death  of  Christ — it  is  the 
death  of  God  !  " 

For  a  moment  the  emperor  was  silent.  As 
General  Bertrand  made  no  reply,  he  solemnly  added, 
''  If  you  do  not  perceive  that  Jesus  Christ  is  God, 
very  well:  then  I  did  wrong  to  make  you  a 
general." 


F.    PECAUT. 

This  modern  French  author,  in  a  work  entitled 
"Ze  Christ  et  la  Conscience,''  Paris,  1859  (which  I 
know  only  from  reviews  and  extracts),  assails  the 
doctrine  of  the  sinlessness  of  Christ,  and  tries  to 
show  that  his  answers  to  his  mother  (Luke  2  :  49, 
and  John  2 :  4),  the  expulsion  of  the  profane 
traffickers  from  the  Temple,  the  cursing  of  the  un- 
fruitful fig-tree,  the  destruction  of  the  herd  of  swine 
at  Gadara,  his  bitter  invective  against  the  Pharisees, 
and  his  apparent  refusal  of  the  epithet  good,  indi- 
cate certain  moral  defects  or  imperfections  in  his 
character.  N"otwithstanding  this  studied  attempt 
to  disprove  the  sinless  perfection  of  Christ,  he  feels 
constrained  to  make  the  following  remarkable  con- 
cession (pp.  245^247),  as  quoted  in  the  Dutch 
work  of  Dr.  van  Gosterzee  of  Utrecht,  on  the 
"  Person  of  Christ :  "— 


F.  PECAUT.  251 

"To  what  height  does  the  character  of  Jesus 
Christ  rise  above  the  most  sublime  and  yet  ever 
imperfect  types  of  antiquity!  What  man  ever 
knew  to  offer  a  more  manly  resistance  to  evil  ? 
Who  endured  vexation  and  contradiction  better 
than  he  ?  Where  is  such  a  development  of  moral 
power  united  with  less  severity  ?  Was  there  ever 
one  seen  who  made  himself  heard  with  such  royal 
authority  ?  And  yet  no  one  ever  was  so  gentle, 
so  humble  and  kind,  as  he.  What  cordial  sym- 
pathy at  the  sight  of  misery,  and  the  spiritual  need 
of  his  brethren !  and  yet,  even  when  his  counte- 
nance is  moistened  by  tears,  it  continues  to  shine 
in  indestructible  peace.  In  his  spirit,  he  lives  in 
the  house  of  his  heavenly  Father.  He  never  loses 
sight  of  the  invisible  world;  and  at  the  same 
time  reveals  a  moral  and  practical  sense  possessed 
by  no  son  of  the  dust.  Which  is  more  wonderful 
— the  nobility  of  his  princely  greatness  spread 
over  his  person,  or  the  inimitable  simplicity  which 
surroitnds  his  whole  appearance  ?  Pascal  had  seen 
this  heavenly  form  when  describing  it  in  a  manner 
worthy  of  the  object:  Jesus  Christ  has  been 
humble  and  patient ;  holy,  holy,  holy  before  God ; 
terrible  to  devils;  without  any  sin.  In  what 
great  brilliancy  and  wonderful  magnificence  he 
appears  to  the  eye  of  the  spirit  which  is  open  to 
wisdom  I     To  shine  forth  in  all  his  princely  splen- 


252  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

dour  of  his  holiness,  it  was  not  necessary  that  he 
should  appear  as  a  king ;  and  yet  he  came  with 
all  the  splendour  of  his  standing.  He  was  the 
master  of  all,  because  he  is  really  their  brother. 
His  moral  life  is  wholly  penetrated  by  God.  He 
represents  virtue  to  me  under  the  form  of  love 
and  obedience.  In  our  part,  we  do  more  than 
esteem  him:  we  offer  him  love." 


GOTHE. 

Gothe,  the  most  universal  and  most  highly 
cultivated  of  poets,  was  probably,  like  Napoleon, 
theoretically  convinced  of  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
but  too  much  a  man  of  the  world  to  give  himself 
any  serious  practical  concern  about  it.  In  his 
youth  he  was,  Ihrough  his  friendship  with  Jung 
Stilling,  Lavater,  Fraiilein  von  Klettenberg  (whose 
"  Confessions  of  a  Beautiful  Soul "  he  incorporated 
in  his  "  Wilhelm  Meister  "),  not  far  from  the  king- 
dom of  Christ,  but  never  surrendered  himself  to  its 
spiritual  power.  "  Prophet  to  the  right  and  prerphet 
to  the  left,  he  stood  between  them,  a  child  of  the 
world.  {Projphete  rechtSy  Prophete  links,  das  Weltkind 
in  der  Mitte)  "  After  his  journey  to  Italy  he  broke 
off  these  Christian  associations,  and  declined,  with 


gOthe.  253 

cold  politeness,  well-meant  monitions  of  noble  Chris- 
tian friends  such  as  the  Countess  of  Stolberg. 

An  interesting  selection  of  deep  Christian  thoughts 
might  be  made  from  his  "  Faust,"  and  other  works  ; 
but  his  poetic  effusions  do  not  always  express 
his  personal  convictions.  We  present  here  only  a 
direct  testimony  to  the  truth  of  the  gospel  history 
and  the  superhuman  nature  of  Christ  from  the  last 
years  of  his  life.  It  is  found  in  his  "  Gesprdcke 
mit  EckermannP  iii.   371. 

"  I  consider  the  Gospels  to  be  thoroughly  genu- 
ine ;  for  in  them  there  is  the  effective  reflection  of 
a  sublimity  which  emanated  from  the  Person  of 
Christ ;  and  this  is  as  Divine  as  ever  the  Divine 
appeared  on  earth." 

"  Ich  halte  die  Evangelien  fur  durchaus  dcht ; 
denn  es  ist  in  ihnen  der  Ahglanz  einer  Hoheit 
wirhsam,  die  von  der  Person  Christi  ausging,  die 
ist  gottlicher  Art,  wie  nur  je  aufErden  das  Gottliche 
erschienen  ist  J' 


254  IMPAETIAL  TESTIMONIES. 


THOMAS    CAELYLE. 

This  powerful  Writer  is  an  open  worshipper  of 
human  heroes  like  Cromwell,  Frederick  the  Great, 
Luther,  and  John  Knox,  but  also  a  silent  worshipper 
of  the  Divine  hero,  whom  he  was  taught  to  love 
and  adore  on  the  knees  of  a  pious  Scotch  mother. 

He  calls  Jesus  of  Nazareth  "  our  divinest  symbol. 
Higher  has  the  human  thought  not  yet  reached. 
A  symbol  of  quite  perennial,  infinite  character; 
whose  significance  will  ever  demand  to  be  anew 
inquired  into,  and  anew  made  manifest." — Sartor 
BesarticSy  bk.  iii.  chap.  3. 


WILLIAM  ELLERY  CHAINTNING. 

We  are  far  from  placing  Dr.  Channing,  the 
great  leader  of  American  Unitarianism,  and  one 
of  the  brightest  ornaments  of  American  literature 
(born  1780,  at  Newport,  Ehode  Island;  died  1842, 
at  Bennington,  Vermont),  in  the  company  of  sceptics 
or  unbelievers.  Although  heterodox  on  the  vital 
articles  of  the  Holy  Trinity  and  the  Atonement, 
he  was,  in  his  way,  a  worshipper  of  Jesus,  and  ex- 


WILLIAM  ELLERY  CHANNING.  255 

liibited  the  power  of  liis  holy  example  in  his  lovely 
character  and  written  works.  He  was  deeply  pene- 
trated with  the  ethical  spirit  of  Christianity,  more 
so  than  many  of  his  orthodox  opponents.  We 
select  two  passages  from  his  admirable  Sermons, 
which  bear  strong  testimony  to  the  perfection  of 
Christ's  character,  and  which  consistently  would 
lead  far  beyond  the  Socinian  or  Unitarian  chris- 
tology  which  he  advocated.  The  italics  are  our 
own. 

From  the  Sermon  on  the  ** Character  of  Christ^*  (on  Matt. 
17  :  5),  in  Dr.  Channing's  Works,  Boston,  1848,  voL  iv. 
pp.  1-29  :— 

"  This  Jesus  lived  with  men :  with  the  conscious- 
ness of  unutterable  majesty,  he  joined  a  lowliness, 
gentleness,  humanity,  and  sympathy  which  have 
no  example  in  human  history.  I  ask  you  to  con- 
template this  wonderful  union.  In  proportion  to 
the  superiority  of  Jesus  to  all  around  him,  was  the 
intimacy,  the  brotherly  love,  with  which  he  bound 
himself  to  them.  I  maintain  that  this  is  a  character 
wholly  remote  from  human  conception.  To  imagine 
it  to  be  the  production  of  imposture  or  enthusiasm, 
shows  a  strange  unsoundness  of  mind.  I  contem- 
plate it  with  a  veneration^  second  only  to  the  pro- 
found awe  with  which  I  look  up  to  God.  It 
bears  no  mark  of  human  invention.     It  was  real. 


256         IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

It  belonged  to,  and  it  manifested,  the  beloved  Son 
of  God.  .  .  . 

"  Here  *1  pause ;  and  indeed  I  know  not  what 
can  be  added  to  heighten  the  wonder,  reverence, 
and  love  which  are  due  to  Jesus.  "When  I  con- 
sider him,  not  only  as  possessed  with  the  conscious- 
ness of  an  unexampled  and  unbounded  majesty,  but 
as  recognising  a  kindred  nature  in  human  beings, 
and  living  and  dying  to  raise  them  to  a  participa- 
tion of  his  divine  glories;  and  when  I  see  him, 
under  these  views,  allying  himself  to  men  by  the 
tenderest  ties,  embracing  them  with  a  spirit  of 
humanity,  which  no  insult,  injury,  or  pain  could 
for  a  moment  repel  or  overpower, — I  am  filled  with 
wonder  as  well  as  reverence  and  love.  I  feel  that 
this  character  is  not  of  human  invention ;  that  it 
was  not  assumed  through  fraud,  or  struck  out  by 
enthusiasm;  for  it  is  infinitely  above  their  reach. 
When  I  add  this  character  of  Jesus  to  the  other 
evidences  of  his  religion,  it  gives,  to  what  before 
seemed  so  strong,  a  new  and  a  vast  accession  of 
strength:  I  feel  as  if  I  could  not  be  deceived. 
The  Gospels  must  he  true :  they  ivere  drawn  from  a 
living  original ;  they  were  founded  on  reality.  The 
character  of  Jesus  is  not  a  fiction :  he  was  what  he 
claimed  to  he,  and  what  his  followers  attested.  !N'or 
is  this  all.  Jesus  not  only  was,  he  is  still,  the  Son 
of  God,  the  Saviour  of  the  world.     He  exists  now : 


WILLIAM   ELLEEY   CHANNING.  2$ 7 

lie  has  entered  that  heaven  to  which  he  always 
looked  forward  on  earth.  There  he  lives  and  reigns. 
With  a  clear,  calm  faith,  I  see  him  in  that  state 
of  glory;  and  I  confidently  expect,  at  no  distant 
period,  to  see  him  face  to  face.  We  have,  indeed, 
no  absent  friend  whom  we  shall  so  surely  meet. 
Let  us,  then,  my  hearers,  by  imitation  of  his  virtues 
and  obedience  to  his  word,  prepare  ourselves  to 
join  him  in  those  pure  mansions,  where  he  is  sur- 
rounding himself  with  the  good  and  pure  of  our 
race,  and  will  communicate  to  them  for  ever  his 
own  spirit,  power,  and  joy." 

From  Dr.  Channing's  Discourse  on  **  The  Imitahleness 
of  Christ  ^^  {WorI:3f  voL  iv.  p.  140) : — 

"  I  believe  Jesus  Christ  to  be  r/iore  than  a  human 
being.  In  truth,  all  Christians  so  believe  him. 
Those  who  suppose  him  not  to  have  existed  before 
his  birth  do  not  regard  him  as  a  mere  man,  though 
so  reproached.  They  always  separate  him  by  broad 
distinctions  from  other  men.  They  consider  him 
as  enjoying  a  communion  with  God,  and  as  having 
received  gifts,  endowments,  aid,  lights,  from  him, 
granted  to  no  other ;  and  as  having  exhibited  a 
spotless  purity,  which  is  the  highest  distinction  of 
heaven.  All  admit,  and  joyfully  admit,  that  Jesus 
Christ,  by  his  greatness  and  goodness,  throws  all 
other  liyuman  attainments  into  ohscurity," 
33 


258  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 


DAVID  FEIEDEICH  STEAUSS. 

From  his  Essay,  *'  Vergdngliches  und  Bleihendes  im  Chris- 
tenthurriy"  1838  {Freihafen,  stes  Heft,  page  47).  See  the 
original  in  the  revised  German  edition  of  this  work,  New 
York  (Amer.  Tract  Society),  1871,  page  308.  On  Strauss, 
and  his  Leben  Jesu,  compare  pp.  113  fF. 

"  If  in  Jesus  the  union  of  the  self-consciousness 
with  the  consciousness  of  God  has  been  real,  and 
expressed  not  only  in  words,  but  actually  revealed 
in  all  the  conditions  of  his  life,  he  represents 
within  the  religious  sphere  the  highest  point, 
beyond  which  posterity  cannot  go ;  yea,  whom  it 
cannot  even  equal,  inasmuch  as  every  one  who 
hereafter  should  climb  the  same  height,  could  only 
do  it  with  the  help  of  Jesus,  who  first  attained  it. 
As  little  as  humanity  will  ever  be  without  reli- 
gion, as  little  will  it  be  without  Christ;  for  to 
have  religion  without  Christ  would  be  as  absurd 
as  to  enjoy  poetry  without  regard  to  Homer  or 
Shakespeare.  And  this  Christ,  as  far  as  he  is 
inseparable  from  the  highest  style  of  religion,  is 
historical^  not  mythical ;  is  an  individual,  no  mere 
symbol.  To  the  historical  person  of  Christ  be- 
longs all  in  his  life  that  exhibits  his  religious 
perfection,   his  discourses,   his  moral   action,   and 

his  passion He  remains  the  highest  model  of 

religion  within  the  reach  of  our  thought ;  and  no 


DAVID    FRIEDRICH    STRAUSS.  259 

'perfect  piety  is  possible  without  his  presence  in  the 
heart.'*'' 

From  his  new  "  Life  of  Jesus, '^  Leipzig,  1864,  page  208. 
Third  Edition. 

"  If  we  ask  how  Jesus  attained  that  harmony  of 
the  soul,  we  find  in  the  existing  records  of  his  life 
no  trace  of  painful  conflicts  from  which  it  might 
have  proceeded.  ...  In  all  those  great  natures 
which  were  purified  by  violent  conflict,  as  Paul, 
Augustin,  Luther,  there  remained  wound-prints 
for  all  time,  something  harsh  and  sad  which 
adhered  to  them  through  life.  But  in  Jesus  not 
a  trace  of  this  is  found.  Jesus  appears  a  beauti- 
ful nature  from  the  very  start,  which  had  only  to 
unfold  itself  from  within,  to  become  more  and 
more  clearly  conscious  of  itself,  and  more  firm  in 
itself,  but  had  no  need  of  returning  and  beginning 
another  life.^  ...  In  this  respect,  as  already 
intimated,  the  highly-gifted  Apostle  of  the  Gen- 
tiles was  not  equal  to  his  Master ;  and  the  two 
great  renovators  of  Christianity  in  later  times, 
Augustin  and  Luther,  were  more  Pauline  than 
Christ-like." 


1  **  Jesus  erscheint  als  eine  schone  Natur  von  Hause  aus, 
die  sich  nur  aus  sich  selhst  heraus  zu  entfalterif  sich  ihrer  selhst 
immer  klarer  bewusst,  immer  fester  in  sich  zu  werden,  nicht 
aber  umzukehren  undein  anderes  Lebenzu  beginnen  brauchteJ'^ 


260  IMPARTIAL   TESTIMONIES. 


THEODOEE  PAEKER 

Bom  in  Lexington,  Mass.,  1810 ;  died  in  Florence,  i860. 

From   '' A  Discourse  of  Matters  pertaining  to   Beligion,** 
Third  ed.  Boston,  1847,  p.  275  fF, 

Theodore  Parker  represents  the  left  or  radical 
wing  of  American  Unitarianism,  as  Channing 
represents  the  right  or  conservative  wing.  He 
adopted,  with  some  exceptions,  the  mythical  theory 
of  Dr.  Strauss.  He  speaks  of  "limitations  of 
Jesus;''  says  that  Jesus  "shared  the  erroneous 
notions  of  the  times  respecting  devils,  possessions, 
and  demonology  in  general ; "  that  he  "  was  mis- 
taken in  his  interpretation  of  the  Old  Testament ; " 
that  he  was  an  "  enthusiast,*'  at  least  to  some 
extent, — all  of  which,  however,  he  regards  as 
mere  trifles,  not  affecting  in  the  least  his  moral 
and  religious  character.  Then  he  finds  fault  with 
Jesus  for  denouncing  his  opponents  in  no  measured 
terms,  calling  the  Pharisees  "hypocrites,"  and 
"  children  of  the  devil."  "  We  cannot  tell  how 
far  the  historians  have  added  to  the  fierceness  of 
this  invective ;  but  the  general  fact  must  probably 
remain,   that  he   did  not  use   courteous  speecli." 


THEODORE  PARKER.  26 1 

But  that,  he  thinks,  considering  the  youth  of  the 
man,  was  a  very  venial  error,  to  make  the  worst 
of  it.  This  is  what  Parker  calls  "the  negative 
side,  or  the  limitations  of  Jesus."  He  then  con- 
siders, page  278,  the  "positive  side,  or  the  excel- 
lences of  Jesus."  From  this  chapter  we  make 
the  following  extracts  :— 

"  In  estimating  the  character  of  Jesus,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  he  died  at  an  age  when  man 
has  not  reached  his  fullest  vigour.  The  great 
works  of  creative  intellect,  the  maturest  products 
of  man,  all  the  deep  and  settled  plans  of  reform- 
ing the  world,  come  from  a  period  when  experience 
gives  a  wider  field  as  the  basis  of  hope.  Socrates 
was  but  an  embryo  sage  till  long  after  the  age  of 
Jesus :  poems,  and  philosophies  that  live,  come  at 
a  later  date.  iN'ow,  here  we  see  a  young  man,  but 
little  more  than  thirty  years  old,  with  no  advan- 
tage of  position;  the  son  and  companion  of  rude 
people;  born  in  a  town  whose  inhabitants  were 
wicked  to  a  proverb ;  of  a  nation,  above  all  others 
distinguished  for  their  superstition,  for  national 
pride,  exaltation  of  themselves,  and  contempt  for 
all  others  ;  in  an  age  of  singular  corruption,  when 
the  substance  of  religion  had  faded  out  from  the 
mind  of  its  anointed  ministers,  and  sin  had  spread 
wide  among  a  people  turbulent,  oppressed,  and 
down-trodden.     A  man   ridiculed  for  his  lack  of 


202  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

knowledge,  in  this  nation  of  forms,  of  hypocritical 
priests,  and  corrupt  people,  falls  back  on  simple 
morality,  simple  religion  ;  unites  in  himself  the 
sublimest  precepts  and  divinest  practices,  thus 
more  than  realising  the  dream  of  prophets  and 
sages;  rises  free  from  all  prejudice  of  his  age, 
nation,  or  sect;  gives  free  range  to  the  Spirit  of 
God  in  his  breast ;  sets  aside  the  law,  sacred  and 
time-honoured  as  it  was,  its  forms,  its  sacrifice,  its 
temple,  and  its  priests;  puts  away  the  doctors  of 
the  law,  subtle,  learned,  irrefragable,  and  pours 
out  a  doctrine  beautiful  as  the  light,  sublime  as 
heaven,  and  true  as  God.  The  philosophers,  the 
poets,  the  prophets,  the  Eabbis, — he  rises  above 
them  all.  Yet  Kazareth  was  no  Athens,  where 
philosophy  breathed  in  the  circumambient  air  :  it 
had  neither  Porch  nor  Lyceum ;  not  even  a  school 
of  the  prophets.  There  is  God  in  the  heart  of  this 
youth."     (Pages  278,  279.) 

""That  mightiest  heart  that  ever  bea.t,  stirred 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  how  it  wrought  in  his 
bosom !  What  words  of  rebuke,  of  comfort, 
counsel,  admonition,  promise,  hope,  did  he  pour 
out !  words  that  stir  the  soul  as  summer  dews 
call  up  the  faint  and  sickly  grass.  What  pro- 
found instruction  in  his  proverbs  and  discourses ! 
what  wisdom  in  his  homely  sayings,  so  rich  with 
Jewish   life !  what   deep   divinity  of  soul   in  his 


THEODORE  PARKER.  263 

prayers,  his  action,  sympathy,  resignation !  "    (Page 
281.) 

"Try  him  as  we  try  other  teachers.  They 
deliver  their  word ;  find  a  few  waiting  for  the 
consolation,  who  accept  the  new  tidings,  follow 
the  new  method,  and  soon  go  beyond  their  teacher, 
though  less  mighty  minds  than  he.  Such  is  the 
case  with  each  founder  of  a  school  of  philosophy, 
each  sect  in  religion.  Though  humble  men,  we 
see  what  Socrates  and  Luther  never  saw.  But 
eighteen  centuries  have  passed  since  the  tide  of 
humanity  rose  so  high  in  Jesus  :  what  man,  what 
sect,  what  church,  has  mastered  his  thought,  com- 
prehended his  method,  and  so  fully  applied  it  to 
life  ?  Let  the  world  answer  in  its  cry  of  anguish. 
Men  have  parted  his  raiment  among  them,  cast 
lots  for  his  seamless  coat ;  but  that  spirit  which 
toiled  so  manfully  in  a  world  of  sin  and  death, 
which  died  and  suffered  and  overcame  the  world, 
— is  that  found,  possessed,  understood  ?  ISTay,  is 
it  sought  for  and  recommended  by  any  of  our 
churches?"     (Page  287.) 


264  IMPARTIAL   TESTIMONIES. 


FEANCES  POWER  COBBE  (d.  1880). 

From  **  Broken  Lights  :  An  Inquiry  into  the  present  Con* 
dition  and  future  Prospects  of  Beligious  Faith.^^  Boston, 
1S64.     Page  150  ff. 

This  is  a  spirited  and  interesting  book,  on  the 
aspect  of  religious  controversy  in  England  at  the 
time  of  its  composition,  by  an  admirer  and  follower 
of  Theodore  Parker.  Miss  Cobbe  is  disposed  to 
attribute  the  supernatural  portions  of  the  gospel 
history,  "  if  not  to  the  invention,  yet,  at  least,  to 
the  exaggerating  homage,  of  adoring  disciples; 
proceeding  stage  after  stage  to  magnify  the  pro- 
phet into  the  Messiah,  the  Messiah  into  the  Son 
of  God,  and  the  Son  of  God  into  the  incarnate 
Logos, — himself  a  God"  (page  ISS).  She  speaks 
highly  of  Eenan  s  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  as  transcending, 
"  for  power  and  skill,  for  vivid  presentation  of  all 
the  outward  conditions  of  the  life  of  Christ,  all 
older  books  on  the  subject,  heterodox  or  ortho- 
dox." But  she  justly  objects,  that  after  all,  in 
his  principal  figure,  Renan  has  failed,  owing  to  his 
semi-pantheistic  standpoint,  which  ignores  the  per- 
sonality of  God  as  our  moral  Lord,  with  whom  our 
souls  must  have  the  actual  and  real  transactions 


FRANCES   POWER  COBBE.  26$ 

of  repentance,  forgiveness,  regeneration.  She  inti- 
mates that  "  the  treatment  of  a  subject  essentially 
spiritual,  from  a  merely  moral  and  aesthetic  point 
of  view,  must  inevitably  be  a  failure  "  (page  i  50). 
In  many  passages  of  the  "  Vie  de  Jdsus  "  she  re- 
marks (pp.  150,  151),  "the  intrusion  of  aesthetic 
criticism  into  the  profoundest  penetralia  of  reli- 
gion, is,  in  the  last  degree,  painful,  and  surely 
must  be  held  to  betray  a  very  slight  sense  of  the 
sanctity  of  the  ideas  subjected  to  such  criticism. 
That  the  story  of  the  prodigal  could  be  styled  '  a 
ddlicieuse  parabohy  and  Christ's  pity  for  the  repen- 
tant Magdalenes  be  spoken  of  as  a  'jalousie  pour 
la  gloire  de  son  Fere  dans  ces  belles  creatures,'  seems 
almost  to  reveal  the  inability  of  the  speaker  to 
comprehend  the  divinest  thing  in  Christ — his 
treatment  of  sin."  The  question,  therefore,  still 
recurs :  "  What  think  ye  of  Christ  ?  whose  son  is 
he  ?  who  and  what  was  that  great  prophet  who 
trod  the  fields  of  Palestine  nineteen  centuries  ago, 
and  who  has  ever  since  been  worshipped  as  a  God 
by  the  foremost  nations  of  the  world  ? "  Miss 
Cobbe  then  proceeds  to  give  her  own  views  of 
Christ  from  what  she  calls  "the  standpoint  of 
Theisfti,"  which,  however,  differs  very  widely  from 
the  Theism  of  the  Bible,  and  is  only  a  new  phase 
of  Deism  and  Naturalism,  enlivened  and  improved 
by  modern  philanthropy  and  religious  sentimental- 
34 


266  IMPARTIAL   TESTIMONIES. 

ism.  We  select  the  more  striking  passages  as 
testimonies  of  a  misguided  but  noble  and  highly 
gifted  soul,  groping  in  the  dark  after  the  unknown 
Saviour. 

"  The  four  Gospels  have  given  us  so  living,  if 
not  so  correct^  an  image,  and  that  image  has  shone 
out  so  long  in  golden  radiance  before  the  dazzled 
eyes  of  Christendom,  that  to  admit  it  may  be  par- 
tially erroneous  is  the  utmost  stretch  of  our  philo- 
sophy. We  still  persist  in  arguing  and  debating 
as  if  it  were  absolutely  perfect.  Small  marvel, 
truly,  is  it  so,  when  even  the  confessed  creations 
of  the  poet's  genius — a  Hamlet  or  a  Lear — become 
to  us  real  persons  on  whom  we  argue  and  debate. 
Who  shall  say  how  real  is  that  ideal  Christ  whom 
all  of  us  hold  in  our  hearts,  whom  nearly  all  of  us 
have  worshipped  on  our  knees  ?  .  .  . 

"  Of  that  noblest  countenance  which  once  smiled 
upon  the  plains  of  Palestine,  we  possess  not,  nor 
will  mankind  ever  recover,  any  perfect  and  infal- 
lible picture,  any  sun- drawn  photograph  which 
might  tell  us,  with  unerring  certainty,  he  was  or 
he  was  not  as  our  hearts  may  conceive  of  him. 

"One  thing,  however,  we  may  hold  with  ap- 
proximate certainty,  and  that  is,  that  all  the  high- 
est  doctrines,  the  purest  moral  precepts,  the  most 
profound  spiritual  revelations,  recorded  in  the 
Gospels,   were  actually  those   of    Christ    himsel£ 


FKANCES   POWER  COBBE.  267 

The  originator  of  the  Christian  movement  must 
have  been  the  greatest  soul  of  his  time,  as  of  all 
time.  If  he  did  not  speak  those  words  of  wisdom, 
who  could  have  recorded  them  for  him  ?  '  It 
would  have  taken  a  Jesus  to  forge  a  Jesus' 
(Theodore  Parker.)  .  .  . 

"  The  view  which  seems  to  be  the  sole  fitting 
one  for  our  estimate  of  the  character  of  Christ,  is 
that  which  regards  him  as  the  great  eegenerator 
of  humanity.  His  coming  was,  to  the  life  of 
humanity,  what  regeneration  is  to  the  life  of  the 
individual  This  is  not  a  conclusion  doubtfully 
deduced  from  questionable  biographies,  but  a 
broad  plain  inference  from  the  universal  history 
of  our  race.  We  may  dispute  all  details ;  but  the 
grand  result  is  beyond  criticism.  The  world  has 
changed,  and  that  change  is  historically  traceable 
to  Christ.  The  honour,  then,  which  Christ  de- 
mands of  us,  must  be  in  proportion  to  our  estimate 
of  the  value  of  such  regeneration.  He  is  not 
merely  a  moral  reformer,  inculcating  pure  ethics; 
not  merely  a  religious  reformer,  clearing  away  old 
theological  errors,  and  teaching  higher  ideas  of 
God.  These  things  he  was ;  but  he  might,  for  all 
we  can  tell,  have  been  them  both  as  fully,  and  yet 
have  failed  to  be  what  he  has  actually  been  to  our 
race.  He  might  have  taught  the  world  better 
ethics  and  better  theology,  and  yet  have  failed  to 


26S  IMPARTIAL   TESTIMONIES. 

infuse  into  it  that  new  life  which  has  ever  since 
coursed  through  its  arteries  and  penetrated  its 
minutest  veins.  What  Christ  has  really  done  is 
beyond  the  kingdom  of  the  intellect  and  its  theo- 
logies ;  nay,  even  beyond  the  kingdom  of  the  con- 
science, and  its  recognition  of  duty.  His  work  has 
been  in  that  of  the  heart.  He  has  transformed  the 
law  into  the  gospel.  He  has  changed  the  bondage 
of  the  alien  for  the  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God.  He 
has  glorified  virtue  into  holiness,  religion  into  piety, 
and  duty  into  love. ' .  .  . 

"  When  the  fulness  of  time  had  come,  and  the 
creeds  of  the  world's  childhood  were  worn  out, 
and  the  restless  question  was  on  every  lip,  '  Who 
will  show  us  any  good  ? '  when  the  whole  heart  of 
humanity  was  sick  of  its  sin,  and  weary  of  its 
wickedness, — then  God  gave  to  one  man,  for  man- 
kind at  large,  that  same  blessed  task  he  gives  to 
many  for  a  few.  Christ,  the  elder  brother  of  the 
human  family,  was  the  helper  and  (in  the  highest 
philosophic  sense)  the  Saviour  of  humanity." 


JOHN  STUAET  MILL.  269 


JOHN  STUAET  MILL  (b.  1806,  d.  1873). 

From  his  essay  on  Theism^  completed  shortly  before  his  death, 
and  published,  1874,  with  two  other  essays  under  the 
■  title,  Three  Essays  on  Religion  (Am.  ed.  by  Holt,  p.  253). 
In  this  essay  Mill  unsettles  all  the  arguments  for  the 
existence  of  God  and  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  but 
winds  up  with  the  following  testimony  to  Christ.  He 
said  of  himself  that  he  never  had  any  religious  belief,  but 
he  made  an  idol  of  his  wife,  especially  after  her  death. 
We  have  here  his  last  utterance. 

"  Above  all,  the  most  valuable  part  of  the  effect 
on  the  character  which  Christianity  has  produced 
by  holding  up  in  a  Divine  Person  a  standard  of 
excellence  and  a  model  for  imitation,  is  available 
even  to  the  absolute  unbeliever,  and  can  never 
more  be  lost  to  humanity.  For  it  is  Christ,  rather 
than  God,  whom  Christianity  has  held  up  to 
believers  as  the  pattern  of 'perfection  for  humanity. 
It  is  the  God  incarnate,  more  than  the  God  of  the 
Jews  or  of  nature,  who  being  idealised  has  taken 
so  great  and  salutary  a  hold  on  the  modern  mind. 
And  whatever  else  may  be  taken  away  from  us  by 
rational  criticism,  Christ  is  still  left;  a  unique 
figure,  not  more  unlike  all  his  precursors  than  all 
his  followers,  even  those  who  had  the  direct 
benefit  of  his  personal  teaching.  It  is  of  no  use 
to  say  that  Christ  as  exhibited  in  the  Gospels  is 


2/6  IMPAllTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

not  historical,  and  that  we  know  not  how  much 
of  what  is  admirable  has  been  superadded  by  the 
tradition  of  his  followers.  The  tradition  of  fol- 
lowers suffices  to  insert  any  number  of  marvels, 
and  may  have  inserted  all  the  miracles  which  he 
is  reputed  to  have  wrought.  But  who  among  his 
disciples  or  among  their  proselytes  was  capable  of 
inventing  the  sayings  ascribed  to  Jesus,  or  imagin- 
ing the  life  and  character  revealed  in  the  Gospels  ? 
Certainly  not  the  fishermen  of  Galilee ;  as  certainly 
not  St.  Paul,  whose  character  and  idiosyncrasies 
were  of  a  totally  different  sort ;  still  less  the  early 
Christian  writers,  in  whom  nothing  is  more  evident 
than  that  the  good  which  was  in  them  was  all  de- 
rived, as  they  always  professed  that  it  was  derived, 
from  the  higher  source.  What  co^dd  be  added 
and  interpolated  by  a  disciple  we  may  see  in  the 
mystical  parts  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  matter 
imported  from  Philo  and  the  Alexandrian  Platon- 
ists  and  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  Saviour  in  long 
speeches  about  himself,  such  as  the  other  Gospels 
contain  not  the  slightest  vestige  of,  though  pre- 
tended to  have  been  delivered  on  occasions  of  tho 
deepest  interest  and  when  his  principal  followers 
were  all  present ;  most  prominently  at  the  last 
supper.  The  East  was  full  of  men  who  could  have 
stolen  any  quantity  of  this  poor  stuff,  as  the  mul- 
titudinous  Oriental   sects  of  Gnostics   afterwards 


JOHN  STUAKT  MILL.  2/1 

did.  ^  But  about  the  life  and  sayings  of  Jesus 
there  is  a  stamp  of  personal  originality  combined 
with  profundity  of  insight,  which,  if  we  abandon 
the  idle  expectation  of  finding  scientific  precision 
where  something  very  different  was  aimed  at,  must 
place  the  Prophet  of  Nazareth,  even  in  the  estima- 
tion of  those  who  have  no  belief  in  his  inspiration, 
in  the  very  first  rank  of  the  men  of  sublime  genius 
of  whom  our  species  can  boast.  When  this  pre- 
eminent genius  is  combined  with  the  qualities  of 
probably  the  greatest  moral  reformer,  and  martyr 
to  that  mission,  who  ever  existed  upon  earth, 
religion  cannot  be  said  to  have  made  a  bad  choice 
in  pitching  on  this  man  as  the  ideal  representative 
and  guide  of  humanity  ;  nor,  even  now,  would  it 
be  easy,  even  for  an  unbeliever,  to  find  a  better 
translation  of  the  rule  of  virtue  from  the  abstract 
into  the  concrete,  than  to  endeavour  so  to  live  that 
Christ  would  approve  our  life.  When  to  this  we 
add  that,  to  the  conception  of  the  rational  sceptic, 
it  remains  a  possibility  that  Christ  actually  was 
what  he  supposed  himself  to  be — not  God,  for  he 
never  made  the  smallest  pretension  to  that  char- 


^  This  irreverent  fling  at  St.  John  shows  the  utter  incapacity  of 
this  eminent  philosopher  to  understand  the  sublimest  discourses 
ever  spoken  on  earth,  and  his  ignorance  of  the  Gnostic  writings, 
which  bear  no  comparison  whatever  with  them.  Philosophers  of 
a  far  higher  order  than  Mill  have  found  unfathomable  depths  of 
thought  in  the  Gospel  of  John. 


2/2  IMPARTIAL   TESTIMONIES. 

acter,  and  would  probably  have  thought  such  a 
pretension  as  blasphemous  as  it  seemed  to  the  men 
who  condemned  him  [?] — but  a  man  charged  with 
a  special,  express,  and  unique  commission  from  God 
to  lead  mankind  to  truth  and  virtue, — we  may  well 
conclude  that  the  influences  of  religion  on  the 
character  which  will  remain  after  rational  criticism 
has  done  its  utmost  against  the  evidences  of 
religion,  are  well  worth  preserving,  and  that  what 
they  lack  in  direct  strength  as  compared  with  those 
of  a  firmer  belief,  is  more  than  compensated  by 
the  greater  truth  and  rectitude  of  the  morality 
they  sanction. 

"  Impressions  such  as  these,  though  not  in  them- 
selves amounting  to  what  can  properly  be  called 
a  religion,  seem  to  me  excellently  fitted  to  aid  and 
fortify  that  real,  though  purely  human  religion, 
which  sometimes  calls  itself  the  Eeligion  of 
Humanity,  and  sometimes  that  of  Duty.  To  the 
other  inducements  for  cultivating  a  religious  devo- 
tion to  the  welfare  of  our  fellow-creatures  as  an 
obligatory  limit  to  every  selfish  aim,  and  an  end 
for  the  direct  promotion  of  which  no  sacrifice  can 
be  too  great,  it  superadds  the  feeling  that  in  mak- 
ing this  the  rule  of  our  life,  we  may  be  co-operating 
with  the  unseen  Being  to  whom  we  owe  all  that 
is  enjoyable  in  life.  One  elevated  feeling  this  form 
of  religious  idea  admits  of,  which  is  not  open  to 


JOHN   STUART   MILL.  2/3 

those  wlio  believe  in  the  omnipotence  of  the  good 
principle  in  the  universe,  the  feeling  of  helping 
God — of  requiting  the  good  he  has  given  by  a 
voluntary  co-operation  which  he,  not  being  omni- 
potent, really  needs,  and  by  which  a  somewhat 
nearer  approach  may  be  made  to  the  fulfilment  of 
his  purposes.  The  conditions  of  human  existence 
are  highly  favourable  to  the  growth  of  such  a  feel- 
ing, inasmuch  as  a  battle  is  constantly  going  on,  in 
which  the  humblest  human  creature  is  not  incapable 
of  taking  some  part,  between  the  powers  of  good 
and  those  of  evil,  and  in  which  every,  even  the 
smallest,  help  to  the  right  side  has  its  value  in  pro- 
moting the  very  slow  and  often  almost  insensible 
progress  by  which  good  is  gradually  gaining  ground 
from  evil,  yet  gaining  it  so  visibly  at  considerable 
intervals  as  to  promise  the  very  distant  but  not 
uncertain  final  victory  of  Good  To  do  something 
during  life  on  even  the  humblest  scale,  if  nothing 
more  is  within  reach,  towards  bringing  this  con- 
summation ever  so  little  nearer,  is  the  most  ani- 
mating and  invigorating  thought  which  can  inspire 
a  human  creature ;  and  that  it  is  destined,  with  or 
without  supernatural  sanctions,  to  be  the  religion 
of  the  future  I  cannot  entertain  a  doubt.  But  it 
appears  to  me  that  supernatural  hopes,  in  the  de- 
gree and  kind  in  which  what  I  have  called  rational 
scepticism  does  not  refuse  to  sanction  them,  may 
35 


274  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

still  contribute  not  a  little  to  give  to  this  religion 
its  due  ascendancy  over  the  human  mind/' 


ERNEST  EENAK 

From  the  "  Viede  J6sus,par  E.  Renan,  memhre  de  VInstituV* 
SeptUme  Edition.  Paris,  1864.  English  translation  by 
Charles  Edwin  Wilbour,  translator  of  '^ Les  Miserahles.^* 
New  York,  1864.  (On  Renan  and  his  hook,  compare  the 
preceding  Essay,  p.  130.) 

"Jesus  cannot  belong  exclusively  to  those  who 
call  themselves  his  disciples.  He  is  the  common 
honour  of  all  who  bear  a  human  heart.  His  glory 
consists  not  in  being  banished  from  history:  we 
render  him  a  truer  w^orship  by  showing  that  all 
history  is  inco7npre'hensi'ble  without  him  {Vhistoire 
entiere  est  incomjprehensible  sans  lui)" 

Page  50.  (French  ed.  p.  xlviii,  close  of  the  Introduction.) 
"  The  capital  event  in  the  history  of  the  w^orld 
is  the  revolution  by  which  the  noblest  portions  of 
humanity  passed  from  the  ancient  religions,  com- 
prised under  the  vague  name  of  paganism,  to  a 
religion  founded  upon  the  divine  unity,  the  Trinity, 
the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God.  This  conver- 
sion required  nearly  a  thousand  years  for  its  accom- 
plishment. The  new  religion  occupied  at  least 
three  hundred  years  in  its  formation  alone.     But 


ERNEST  RENAN.  2/5 

the  origin  of  tlie  revolution  with  which  we  have 
to  do  is  an  event  which  occurred  during  the  reigns 
of  Augustus  and  Tiberius.  Then  lived  a  superior 
person,  who,  by  his  bold  initiative,  and  by  the  love 
which  he  inspired,  created  the  object,  and  fixed 
the  starting-point,  of  the  future  fate  of  humanity. 
{Alors  vecut  une  personne  supdrieure  qid,  par  son 
initiative  hardie,  et  par  V amour  qyCellc  sut  inspirer, 
crda  Vdhjet  et  posa  le  point  de  ddpart  de  la  foi 
future  de  Vhumanite.y 

Page  51.     (French  ed.  page  I,  beginning  of  cliaj),  i.) 

*'This  confused  medley  of  [Messianic  Jewish] 
visions  and  dreams,  this  alternation  of  hopes  and 
deceptions,  these  aspirations  incessantly  trampled 
down  by  a  hateful  reality,  at  length  found  their 
interpreter  in  the  incomparable  man  to  whom  the 
universal  conscience  has  decreed  the  title  of  Son 
of  God,  and  that  with  justice;  since  he  caused 
religion  to  take  a  step  in  advance,  incomparably 
greater  than  any  other  in  the  past,  and,  probably, 
than  any  yet  to  come.  {Lhomme  incomparable 
auquel  la  conscience  universelle  a  ddcernd  le  titre  de 
Fils  de  Dieu,  et  cela  avec  Justice,  puisqu'il  a  fait  /aire 
d  la  religion  un  pas  auquel  nul  autre  ne  peut  et 
'prohdblement  ne  pourra  jamais  etre  com,pard.y* 

Page  64.     (French  ed.  page  13,  close  of  chap,  i.) 

^'Were  the  men  who  have  most  loftily  compre- 


276  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

liended  God, — Cakya-Monni,  Plato,  St.  Paul,  St. 
Francis  d^Assisi,  and  St.  Angustin, — at  some  mo- 
ments of  his  changeful  life,  deists  or  pantheists  ? 
Such  a  question  has  no  meaning.  The  physical 
and  metaphysical  proofs  of  the  existence  of  God  to 
them  would  have  had  no  interest.  They  felt  the 
divine  within  themselves.  In  the  first  rank  of  this 
grand  family  of  the  true  sons  of  God  we  must 
place  Jesus.  Jesus  has  no  visions  ;  God  does  not 
speak  to  him  from  without;  God  is  in  him;  he 
feels  that  he  is  with  God,  and  he  draws  from  his 
heart  what  he  says  of  his  Father.  He  lives  in  the 
bosom  of  God  by  uninterrupted  communication: 
he  does  not  see  him,  but  he  understands  him  with- 
out need  of  thunder  and  burning  bush  like  Moses, 
of  a  revealing  tempest  like  Job,  of  an  oracle  like 
the  old  Greek  sages,  of  a  familiar  genius  like 
Socrates,  or  of  an  angel  Gabriel  like  Mohammed. 
The  imagination  and  hallucination  of  a  St.  Theresa, 
for  example,  here  go  for  nothing.  The  intoxication 
of  the  Soufi,  proclaiming  himself  identical  with 
God,  is  also  an  entirely  different  thing.  Jesus 
never  for  a  moment  enounces  the  sacrilegious  idea 
that  he  is  God  [?].  He  believes  that  he  is  in  direct 
communion  with  God:  he  believes  himself  the 
Soil  of  God.  The  highest  consciousness  of  God 
which  ever  existed  in  the  breast  of  humanity  was 
that  of  Jesus.     {La  plus  haute  conscience  de  Bleu 


ERNEST  RENAN.  2// 

qui  ait  exists  au  sein  de  Vhumaniti  a  iti  celle  de 
Jdsus,y 
Page  104.    (French  ed.  page  54,  chap,  iv.) 

"It  is  probable  that,  from  the  very  first,  he 
looked  to  God  in  the  relation  of  a  son  to  a  farther. 
This  is  his  great  act  of  originality :  in  this  he  is  in 
no  wise  of  his  race.  {En  cela  il  n'est  nullemeni  de 
sa  race.)  Neither  the  Jew  nor  the  Moslem  has 
learned  this  delightful  theology  of  love.  The  God 
of  Jesus  is  not  the  hateful  master  who  kills  us 
when  he  pleases,  damns  us  when  he  pleases,  saves 
us  when  he  pleases.  The  God  of  Jesus  is  our 
Father.  We  hear  him  when  we  listen  to  a  low 
whisper  within  us,  which  says,  '  Father.'  The  God 
of  Jesus  is  not  the  partial  despot  who  has  chosen 
Israel  for  his  people,  and  protects  it  in  the  face  of 
all  and  against  all.  He  is  the  God  of  humanity." 
Page  106.     (Page  56,  chap,  v.) 

"It.  cannot  be  denied,  that  the  maxims  bor- 
rowed [?]  by  Jesus  from  his  predecessors  produce, 
in  the  gospel,  an  effect  totally  different  from  that 
in  the  ancient  law,  in  the  FirJce  Aboth}  or  in  the 
Talmud.  It  is  not  the  ancient  law,  it  is  not  the 
Talmud,  which  has  conquered  and  changed  the 
world.  Little  original  in  itself, — if  by  that  is 
meant  that  it  can  be  recomposed  almost  entirely  [?] 

1  A  collection  of  sentences  and  maxims  of  ancient  Je^^ish  rabhis. 


278         IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

with  more  ancient  maxims,  —  the  evangelical 
morality  remains  none  the  less  the  highest  creation 
which  has  emanated  from  the  human  conscience, 
the  most  beautiful  code  of  perfect  life  that  any 
moralist  has  traced.  {La  jolus  haute  creation  qui 
soit  sortie  de  la  conscience  humaine^  le  plus  heaio  code 
de  la  vie  'parfaite  qyJaucun  moraliste  ait  tracd^'^ 

Page  no.     (Page  61,  chap,  v.) 

"  The  gospel  has  been  the  supreme  remedy  for 
the  sorrows  of  common  life;  a  perpetual  sursum 
corda ;  a  mighty  distraction  from  the  wretched 
cares  of  earth ;  a  sweet  appeal,  like  that  of  Jesus 
to  the  ear  of  Martha:  'Martha,  Martha,  thou 
art  careful  and  troubled  about  many  things ;  but 
one  thing  is  needful.'  Thanks  to  Jesus,  the  most 
spiritless  existence,  that  most  absorbed  in  sad  or 
humiliating  duties,  has  had  its  glimpse  of  heaven ! 
In  our  bustling  civilisation,  the  memory  of  the  free 
life  of  Galilee  has  been  like  the  perfume  of  another 
world;  like  a  'dew  of  Hermon,'  which  has  pre- 
vented sterility  and  vulgarity  from  completely 
usurping  the  field  of  God." 

Page  175.     (Page  127,  chap,  x.) 

"  Christ,  for  the  first  time,  gave  utterance  to  the 
idea  upon  which  shall  rest  the  edifice  of  the  ever- 
lasting religion.  He  founded  the  pure  worship — - 
of  no  age,  of  no  clime — which  shall  be  that  of  all 
lofty   souls  to  the   end  of  time.   ...   If    other 


ERNEST  KENAN.  279 

planets  have  inhabitants  endowed  with  reason  and 
morality,  their  religion  cannot  be  different  from  that 
which  Jesus  proclaimed  at  Jacob's  Well.  Man  has 
not  been  able  to  abide  by  this  worship  [in  spirit 
and  in  truth] :  we  attain  the  ideal  only  for  a 
moment.  The  words  of  Jesus  were  a  gleam  in 
thick  night :  it  has  taken  eighteen  hundred  years 
for  the  eyes  of  humanity  (what  do  I  say !  of  an 
infinitely  small  portion  of  humanity)  to  learn  to 
abide  by  it.  But  the  gleam  shall  become  the  full 
day;  and,  after  passing  through  all  the  circles  of 
error,  humanity  will  return  to  these  words,  as  to 
the  immortal  expression  of  its  faith  and  its  hopes. 
{Thumanite  revicndra  a  ce  mot-Id  [John  iv.  23] 
comme  d  Vexjpression  immortelle  de  sa  foi  et  de  ses 
esp^rances.y 

Page  215.     (Page  168,  chap,  xiv.) 

"  Eepose  now  in  thy  glory,  noble  founder !  Thy 
work  is  finished ;  thy  divinity  is  established.  Fear 
no  more  to  see  the  edifice  of  thy  labours  fall  by 
any  fault.  Henceforth,  beyond  the  reach  of  frailty, 
thou  shalt  witness,  from  the  heights"  of  divine 
peace,  the  infinite  results  of  thy  acts.  At  the 
price  of  a  few  hours  of  sujffering,  which  did  not 
even  reach  thy  grand  soul,  thou  hast  bought  the 
most  complete  immortality.  Tor  thousands  of 
years,  the  world  will  defend  thee  !  Banner  of  our 
contests,  thou  shalt  be  the  standard  about  which 


280  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

the  hottest  battle  will  be  given.  A  thousand  times 
more  alive,  a  thousand  times  more  beloved  since 
thy  death  than  during  thy  passage  here  below, 
thou  shalt  become  the  corner-stone  of  humanity 
so  entirely,  that  to  tear  thy  name  from  this 
world  would  be  to  rend  it  to  its  foundations. 
Between  thee  and  God  there  will  be  no  longer 
any  distinction.  (Entre  toi  et  Dieu  on  ne  distin- 
guera  plus)  Complete  conqueror  of  death,  take 
possession  of  thy  kingdom;  whither  shall  follow 
thee,  by  the  royal  road  which  thou  hast  traced, 
ages  of  worshippers  {des  siecles  d'adorateurs)" 

Page  351.     (Page  303,  close  of  chap,  xxv.) 

"  Whatever  may  be  the  surprises  of  the  future, 
Jesus  will  never  be  surpassed.  His  worship  will 
grow  young  without  ceasing ;  his  legend  will  call 
forth  tears  without  end ;  his  sufferings  will  melt  the 
noblest  hearts ;  all  ages  will  proclaim,  that,  among 
the  sons  of  men,  there  is  none  born  greater  than 
Jesus.  {Quels  que  puissent  etre  les  pMnomenes  in- 
attendus  de  Vavenir,  Jdsus  ne  sera  pas  smpassd. 
Son  culte  se  rajeunira  sans  cesse ;  sa  Ugende  provo- 
quera  des  larmes  sans  Jin;  ses  souffrances  attendri- 
ront  les  meilleurs  coeurs :  tous  les  siecles  proclameront 
qii  entre  les  jils  des  homnies,  il  n'en  est  pas  nd  plus 
grand  que  Jdsus)'* 

Page  376.     (Page  325,  end  of  the  xxviii.  and  last  chap.) 


THEODOR  KEIM.  28 1 


THEODOE  KEIM. 


Dr.  Theodor  Keim  (a  native  of  the  kingdom  of 
Wurttemberg,  Professor  of  Theology  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Ziirich,  and  afterwards  in  Giessen,  died  1 879) 
wrote  three  very  able  essays  on  the  Historical 
Christ  ('' I)er  geschichtliche  Christus,'*  Zurichj  1866), 
and  an  elaborate  Life  of  Jesus  ("  Geschichte  Jesu 
von  Nazaral'  Zurich,  1867— 1872,  3  vols.,  also 
translated  into  English),  which  belong  to  the  liberal 
critical  school,  but  mark  a  considerable  advance  be- 
yond the  destructive  criticism  of  Strauss  and  Eenan, 
and  aim  at  a  reconstruction  of  a  historical  Christ  on 
the  basis  of  the  Synoptical  Gospels  (without  the 
aid  of  John)  and  in  the  light  of  the  whole  con- 
temporary history,  as  brought  before  us  especially 
in  the  works  of  Josephus. 

Keim  strongly  asserts  the  sinlessness  of  Christ  as 
being  implied  in  his  words  and  work  and  admitted 
by  friend  and  foe,  although  it  may  not  be  capable 
of  absolute  proof  as  an  experimental  fact.  He  ably 
refutes  the  subjective  vision-hypothesis  of  Strauss 
and  Eenan,  and  admits  an  actual,  though  only 
spiritual,  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  his  objective 
appearance  from  heaven.  "  The  fact  stands  firm," 
he  says,  "not  indeed,  as  was  always  believed, 
that  the  tomb  of  Jesus  was  empty,  but  that  the 
Apostles  saw  their  Lord  again  after  his  death,  or 
36 


282  IMPARTIAL    TESTIMONIES. 

were  thoroughly  convinced  that  they  saw  him." 
He  does  not  inform  us  what  became  of  his  body, 
but  admits  that  we  must  either  confess  our  igno- 
rance, or  return  to  the  simple  faith  of  the  disciples. 

We  select  a  few  passages  from  Keim's  "G^- 
scMchte  Jesu  von  JVazara"  His  style  is  artificial, 
and  hard  to  translate.  His  small  work  in  one 
volume  (third  edition,  1875)  is  an  abridgment. 

"  Thus  the  religion  of  Christ  goes  mysteriously 
back  to  his  person.  ...  In  his  personal  life  there 
must  have  been  from  the  very  beginning  and 
always  a  sentiment  of  human  elevation,  a  feeling 
of  divine  love,  and  an  aspiration  after  perfection 
in  God,  mighty,  pure,  without  bitter  drops  of 
human  weakness,  impurity,  unworthiness — a  per- 
fection such  as  we  find  elsewhere  reflected  only  in 
broken  and  disturbed  fragments.  This  fundamen- 
tal fact  alone,  which  with  Paul  we  call  the  higher, 
complete,  divine-human  creation  of  the  great  God 
in  the  fulness  of  time,  enables  us  to  understand 
the  religion  which  sprang  from  it  and  the  Man 
himself,  the  pure  one,  the  sinless  one,  the  Son  of 
God."     Vol.  i.  p.  448. 

Christ,  in  his  gigantic  elevation  above  his  own 
and  succeeding  ages,  "makes  the  impression  of 
mysterious  loneliness,  superhuman  miracle,  divine 
creation."^     Yol.  iii.  p.  662. 

*  "  Den  Eindruck  geheimnissvoUer  EinsamJceit,  uhermenschlicherh 
Wundcrs,  goltlichcr  Schopfung.^' 


NAPOLEON'S   TESTIMONY.  283 

"  The  person  of  Jesus  is  not  only  a  deed  among 
the  many  deeds  of  God,  but  the  peculiar  work,  the 
specific  revelation  of  God.  .  .  .  Christianity  is  the 
crown  of  the  creations  of  God,  and  Jesus  is  the 
Chosen  of  God,  his  Image,  his  Darling,  his  World- 
Guide  and  World-Shaper  in  the  history  of  man-' 
kind.  He  is  the  rest,  and  he  is  the  fly-wheel  of 
the  history  of  the  world."  ^     Vol.  iii.  p.  66J, 


TWO  LETTEES  CONCEENIITG  NAPOLEON'S 
TESTIMONY. 

{Compare  ;page  219.) 

While  this  book  was  passing  through  the  press, 
I  received  from  two  well-informed  gentlemen  of 
France,  the  Eev.  Eugene  Bersier  and  Mons.  Lut- 
teroth,  the  following  replies  to  inquiries  concerning 

1  **  Weil  in  seiner  Person  gegenuherdem  Stiickwerk  seiner  Zeit  und 
dem  Stiickwerk  der  Jahrtausende  der  Mensch  und  die  Menschheit 
aich  vollendete,  darum  ist  es  gegeft  here  Einwdnde  noch  heute  moglich 
und  verniinftig  zu  sagen,  die  Person  Jcsu  ist  nicht  nur  eine  That 
unter  vielen  Thaten  GotteSy  sie  ist  das  eigenste  Werk^  die  specifische 
Offenharung  Gottes  gewesen;  nur  kein  Werk  des  AbbruchSy  sondern 
des  Ahschlusses  und  Aufbaus  der  gottgesetzten  Weltordnnng.  Hat 
von  ihm  selhst  Spinoza  bekannty  dass  er  del*  Tempel  Gottes  gewesen,  in 
tuelchem  Gott  sich  am  meisten  offenbarte,  so  ruft  es  bei  uns  noch  freu- 
diger :  das  Christenthum  ist  die  Krone  der  Schopfungen  Gottes,  und 
Jesus  der  Erwdhlie  Gottes,  Abbild,  Liebling,  Weltfilhrer  und  Welt' 
bildner  Gottes  in  der  Menschheitsgeschichte,  Er  ist  die  Euhe  und  er 
ist  das  Triebrad  der  Weltgeschichte.'* 


2S4  IMPARTIAL  TESTIMONIES. 

the  origin  and  authenticity  of  the  remarkable 
testimony  of  the  great  Kapoleon  to  the  Divinity  of 
Christ : — 

**PAIlTg,  216  BOULEVABD  PeREIRE, 

le  23  AoUt  1879. 

"  Cher  Monsieur, — Le  seul  homme  qui,  k  ma 
connaissance,  puisse  vous  renseigner  exactement 
sur  la  question  que  vous  me  presentez,  est  M. 
Henry  Lutteroth,  Chateau  de  Bourneville  par  la  fert^ 
Milon  (Aisne).  M.  Lutteroth  etait  membre  du  Comitd 
des  Trait^s  quand  fut  publie  le  traite  NajpoUon, 

"  On  m'a  toujours  dit  que  les  paroles  cities  de 
Napoleon  ont  et^  rapportfes  verbatim  par  Montho- 
lon  et  transcrites  par  un  de  ses  amis  protestants 
(le  g^n^ral  Maurice  ou  Tamiral  Verhuel).  Je  n'en 
sais  pas  davantage.  Je  crois  a  leur  parfaite  au- 
thenticity. Personne,  surtout  alors,  n'aurait  trouv^ 
cela.     II  y  a  Ik  la  griffe  du  lion. — Tout  h,  vous, 

"EuG.  Bersier." 

"Bourneville,  par  la  Fert^-Milon, 
(Aisne),  le  ler  Septemhre  1879. 

"  Monsieur, — Je  serais  heureux  de  pouvoir  vous 
donner  quelques  renseignements  precis  sur  la 
source  ou  ont  ^t^  puises  les  entretiens  de  Napoleon 
avec  le  general  Bertrand  relatifs  au  Christianisme, 
reproduits  dans  un  traite  de  la  Soci^te  des  Traites 
religieux  de  Paris,  portant  le  ISTo.  200,  et  non  le 
Ko.  51,  h  moins  que  le  No.  n'ait  6t(S  change 
depuis  peu. 

"  Ce  traits  a  ^t^  imprim^  pour  la  premiere  fois, 


napoleon's  testimony.  285 

je  crois  en  1843.  II  en  est  fait  mention  dans  le 
rapport  de  1842  k  1843  en  ces  mots:  *  ISTapolc^on 
lisait  TEvangile  k  Sainte-Helfene ;  le  fait  est 
certain ;  Ton  a  m^me  publie  sur  les  reflexions  que 
cette  lection  lui  sugg^rait,  dans  ses  entretiens,  des 
pages  qu'on  a  placees  sous  la  protection  du  nom 
de  I'un  de  ses  compagnons  d'infortnne,  qui  n'en  a 
pas  repouss4  la  responsabilite.  II  nous  a  paru 
que  ce  fait  et  ces  paroles  etaient  de  nature  a 
produire  une  s^rieuse  impression  ;  que  les  militaires 
surtout  pourraient  etre  conduits  par  ce  memorable 
exemple  k  vouloir  lire  le  livre  qu'etudiait  Conde 
et  que  meditait  JSTapoleon/ 

"La  feuille  religieux  du  canton  de  Vaud  de 
1843,  publico  k  Lausanne,  avait  aussi  donn^  des 
extraits  de  ces  entretiens ;  mais  je  ne  saurais  dire 
s'ils  sont  tires  du  livre  de  M.  de  Beauterne : 
Sentiments  de  NajpoUon  sur  le  Christianisme,  ou 
d'ailleurs 

"Eecevez,  Monsieur,  Tassurance  de  mes  senti- 
ments distingu^a, 

**  Henei  Lutteroth.'* 


^1^ 


mv. 


:m 


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